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The Society of Toxicology’s annual conference engages over 5,000 attendees

Scientists from the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) and a Member of the independent Expert Panel for Fragrance Safety will participate at the Society of Toxicology’s 64^th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo in Orlando, Florida, March 16–20, 2025.

Throughout the five-day conference, RIFM researchers will share their knowledge and experience and advance their science through award lectures, mentoring events, poster presentations, and workshop sessions.

We look forward to celebrating their achievements and sharing the ongoing research detailed below with the larger toxicology community in March. (Unless otherwise indicated, all events will be at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando.)

Sunday, March 16

Expert Panel for Fragrance Safety Member Debra L. Laskin, PhD, receives the Distinguished Toxicology Scholar Award during the Awards Ceremony, 4:45 PM to 6:30 PM EDT. The Award recognizes Dr. Laskin’s longstanding career of impactful scientific contributions to the field of toxicology and her seminal work illuminating the role of macrophages in tissue injury.

Monday, March 17

Dr. Laskin presents the Distinguished Toxicology Scholar Award Lecture, “Macrophages and Tissue Injury: Agents of Defense or Destruction?” 11:00 AM to 12:00 Noon EDT.

Kaushal Joshi, PhD, DABT, RIFM Senior Scientist, Reproductive Toxicology, and Arianna Bartlett, PhD, RIFM Safety Assessment Team Researcher, will present the poster “In vitro human skin absorption of ethyl salicylate, pentyl salicylate, and (Z)-3-hexenyl salicylate from topical cream formulations: effects on permeation and distribution.” Dr. Kaushal explains the impact of this work: “By incorporating skin absorption data, we can better understand how fragrance ingredients distribute and penetrate the skin in real-world scenarios.” 1:45 to 4:15 PM EDT.

Nikaeta Sadekar, PhD, DABT, RIFM Senior Scientist, Respiratory Toxicology, presents Challenges in Using Human Clinical Data for Identifying Chemicals as Respiratory Sensitizers: Recommendations from an ECETOC Task Force. “This poster summarizes a recent publication from the European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals Task Force,” Dr. Sadekar explained, “on the challenges encountered due to knowledge gaps in using clinical data on respiratory sensitization to inform regulatory decisions.” 1:45 to 4:15 PM EDT.

RIFM Safety Assessment Team Researcher Marissa Guttenberg, PhD, will participate in the Inhalation and Respiratory Specialty Section (IRSS) Annual Mentoring Event. This event allows trainees to informally meet with IRSS members spanning academia, industry, government, and consulting sectors to discuss career paths and strategies. It caters to trainees of all levels, from undergraduate to post-doctoral. 5 to 6 PM EDT.

Tuesday, March 18

RIFM Senior Scientists Holger Moustakas, PhD, Chemistry & Genotoxicity, and Jake Muldoon, PhD, Chemistry, will be on hand to engage attendees with their poster, “Chemical clustering and the potential for read-across in natural complex substance (NCS) safety assessments.” 9:15 to 11:45 AM EDT.

That same morning, doctoral candidate and RIFM research consultant Elena Chung will present her independent poster, “Using Data Sufficiency to Map a New Chemical Landscape for Toxicity.” Data sufficiency refers to the completeness and relevance of chemical, biological, and toxicological data required for robust toxicity predictions. 9:15 to 11:45 AM EDT.

Thursday, March 20

Dr. Moustakas will co-chair the workshop session Unlocking the Power of Read-Across for Safety Assessment: Current Practices and Approaches and present on the “Development and Application of Structural Activity Groups for Chemical Clustering and Read-Across in Nonanimal Safety Assessments”. Dr. Moustakas will describe the RIFM approach to read-across—or, using data from one ingredient to understand a data-poor ingredient with a similar toxicological profile—which involves classifying chemicals according to their Structural Activity Groups (SAGs).

“I am excited to co-chair this read-across session with our collaborator from Procter & Gamble, Dr. Cathy Lester,” Dr. Moustakas said. “We have seen many sessions on read-across in the past few years at SOT and identified an opportunity to expand upon the conversation and discuss how read-across is pragmatically used to evaluate the safe use of materials across the vast chemical space. Therefore, we are excited to present work from various industry, academia, and government speakers on how they use and develop read-across for safety assessment.” 8:30 to 11:15 AM EDT.