Date: 2010-03-16
Source: BDS

On September 24/25th, 2009 the last BioDetectors Conference has been organised  at the Science Park in Amsterdam. The focus has been to discuss “How effect based analysis can be moved forward in science and policy?”. In the last few years the cell based screening technologies have been accepted in Europe  for dioxins/dl-PCB analysis in food and feed, but so far only in a few countries only for environmental testing such as water, soil, sediment, ashes or emission gas.

Unfortunately, we could not motivate many regulators to join our conference with the aim to discuss open-minded the challenges for the future integration of effect-based screening technologies. In the scientific world it is obvious that the paradigm shift from lots of chemical compound testing to a few important endpoint testing has already started and science will continuously move into this modern direction.

The program on the first day was focusing on all kinds of applications of the CALUX panel of cell based screening technologies for the analysis of pollutants in surface water, sediments and drinking water. In the first presentation, Bart van der Burg presented the new panel of CALUX technologies and the future direction. He was followed by Minne Heringa (KWR), who showed high levels of glucocorticoids in Dutch waste waters. Next, Prof. Narbonne (University Bordeaux) showed that estrogen-like compounds in several drinking waters from France are below the LOD (0.08 ng EEQ/l) of the  ER alpha and ER beta CALUX test – therefore proving that in normal PET bottles no leaching of plastic additives such as BPA, NP, OP or several phthalates occurs at levels sufficient to induce a biological (e.g.  CALUX) response.

Karin Deprez and Reinhilde Weltens presented their important project for hazardous waste and application of a panel of in vitro reporter gene assays.

The presentation of Peter Behnisch showed the latest applications of the DR CALUX in dioxin/PCB crisis situations and the results of several international monitoring programs in Australia, The Netherlands, Slovakia and Norway. The meeting was finished on the first day with several new biomarkers presented by Moshe Tom (Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research Inst), Georg Streck (UFZ; about the Model Key Project) and Prof. Vollmer (Technical Universities Dresden). Several posters presented on the first day showed interesting applications of biomarkers in the field of environmental monitoring of water, sediments and chemical compounds for new emerging pollutants such as new PAHs (Bekki et al).