RISKHUNT3R actively collaborates with the Joint Research Centre at the level of validation of test methods and the implementation of high-throughput testing, assessment of TTC methods, and definition of strategies toward completely animal-free safety testing. Moreover, JRC will actively participate in the communication to international stakeholders, including regulatory agencies, national reference laboratories, European 3R centres, and industry stakeholders.

The Tox21 program is a collaboration among four US government agencies to develop new ways to rapidly test whether substances can have an adverse effect on human health. The approaches taken in Tox21 are complementary to efforts in RISK-HUNT3R in that they also employ NAMs such as high-throughput transcriptomics and other in vitro and in silico-based tests. The application of NAMs in NGRA is a common goal. Several representatives of the Tox21 program are members of the RISK-HUNT3R Scientific and Regulatory Advisory Board (SRAB). To ensure mutually beneficent knowledge exchange between Tox21 and RISK-HUNT3R, regular web-based or physical meetings are organised and working groups are established. These working groups are dedicated to particular topics of interest to both projects and serve to quickly disseminate knowledge and approaches.

Collaboration focus areas:

• High-throughput methods for NGRA
• AOP network-based system toxicology
• High-throughput PBK models
• Threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) approaches
• Integration of advanced multi-physiological systems (MPS, including organ-on-a-chip models) for risk assessment