59th Annual Meeting | 2025 Robert Bedoukian Award | Leading the Conversation | Milestones and Momentum | Excellence in Action
2025 marked a watershed year for RIFM’s scientific recognition and global impact. With new advances in non-animal testing, exposure modeling, and environmental assessment, RIFM continued to drive the science of fragrance safety forward, earning international acknowledgment for the quality, transparency, and real-world relevance of our work. Our researchers were honored at leading conferences, published groundbreaking and award-winning studies, and shared their expertise in classrooms and symposia worldwide.
RIFM Postdoctoral Researcher Marissa Guttenberg, PhD, received a 2025 AJRCMB Junior Investigator Award and SOT’s 2025 Best Paper of the Year Award.
RIFM Principal Scientist Aurelia Lapzynski and colleagues were honored as one of the 10 Exceptional Papers of 2024 by Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (ET&C), published by Oxford Academic.
RIFM Senior Scientist Holger Moustakas, PhD, and RIFM Senior Associate Scientist Jake Muldoon, PhD, were selected to present their latest research during the prestigious Sci-Mix Poster Session at the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Fall 2025 Meeting.
RIFM Postdoctoral Researcher Kayla Farrell, PhD, received the Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society (EMGS) 2nd Place Award for Early Career Poster Presentation.
RIFM Principal Scientist Isabelle Lee, PhD, was interviewed on advancements in skin sensitization testing in Cosmetics Design USA.
RIFM Principal Scientist Kaushal Joshi, PhD, DABT, was interviewed on dermal absorption of salicylates in Cosmetics Design USA.
CosmeticsDesign USA also interviewed RIFM Principal Scientist Yax Thakkar, PhD, on physiologically based pharmacokinetic, or PB/PK, modeling for genotoxicity.
Independent toxicologist Rani Ghosh called out RIFM’s fragrance safety science leadership in a Refinery29 article.
How Allergic Contact Dermatitis Happens at the Cellular Level (2:05)
How Can I Tell if a Fragrance Ingredient Is Safe? (1:35)
How Chicken Eggs Can Save Animals’ Lives (1:50)
How RIFM’s Fragrance Safety Science Protects the Environment (2:04)
INFOX 2025: A Must-Attend Event for Fragrance Safety Stakeholders (0:48)
RIFM celebrated 10 years of open access to all its peer-reviewed fragrance safety publications.
Safety assessments covering more than 2,300 discrete and NCS fragrance ingredients are now published and available via the Fragrance Material Safety Resource Center.
RIFM Principal Scientist Nikaeta Sadekar, PhD, DABT, was tapped to participate as a lecturer-mentor in Rutgers University’s Risk Assessment Bootcamp. Dr. Sadekar also oversaw RIFM’s Summer Internship program.
RIFM Postdoctoral Researcher Marissa Guttenberg, PhD, moderated an SOT career panel for graduate students.
RIFM Director of Scientific Operations, Danielle Botelho, PhD, advanced RIFM’s NCS risk assessment science for German cosmetics assessors as part of a German Society for Scientific and Applied Cosmetics (DGK) and Industrial Association for Personal Care and Detergents (IKW) seminar for cosmetics safety assessors
RIFM Principal Scientist Isabelle Lee, PhD, presented on skin sensitization thresholds at the 2025 IUTOX 17th International Congress of Toxicology.
RIFM Principal Scientist Gretchen Ritacco, MS, presented on the Creme RIFM Aggregate Exposure Model for the 2025 International Symposium for Risk Assessment on Cosmetic Products.
RIFM President Anne Marie Api, PhD, Fellow ATS, met with representatives of the Korea Cosmetic Industry Institute (KCII) to discuss areas of mutual interest in fragrance safety and research collaboration.
Dr. Api also participated in the Fragrance Safety & Risk Assessment Workshop in Seoul, organized by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), the Korean Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), and the Foreign Investment Ombudsman, in collaboration with the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea. The workshop featured two presentations by Dr. Api, highlighting RIFM’s Safety Assessment Program and the Quantitative Risk Assessment approach for dermal sensitization of fragrance ingredients.
RIFM Principal Scientist Nikaeta Sadekar, PhD, DABT, presented on inhalation safety and NAMs at AIT 2025.
Cutting-edge fragrance safety science was advanced at the 59th Congress of the European Societies of Toxicology (EUROTOX 2025) by RIFM Scientists Chaitra Deodhar, PhD, and Maura Lavelle, MS, and RIFM Senior Associate Scientists Arianna Bartlett, PhD, and Jake Muldoon, PhD.
RIFM’s INFOX® 2025 in Paris focused on the legacy and future of innovative fragrance safety science and featured presentations by RIFM President Anne Marie Api, PhD, Fellow ATS, RIFM Director of Scientific Operations, Danielle Botelho, PhD, RIFM Executive Director, Technical Information & Services, Christen Sachse Vasquez, RIFM Principal Scientists Aurelia Lapczynski, Gretchen Ritacco, MS, Kaushal Joshi, PhD, DABT, Nikaeta Sadekar, PhD, DABT, and Isabelle Lee, PhD, and RIFM Senior Scientist Holger Moustakas, PhD, as well as Expert Panel for Fragrance Safety Chair, Donald V. Belsito, MD, and Expert Panel Members Aldert H. Piersma, PhD, and Professor Wolfgang Dekant, PhD.
RIFM Principal Scientists Kaushal Joshi, PhD, DABT, Nikaeta Sadekar, PhD, DABT, Senior Scientist Holger Moustakas, PhD, and RIFM Senior Associate Scientist Jake Muldoon, PhD, championed Fragrance Safety Research at the Society of Toxicology’s 64th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo. Dr. Moustakas also co-chaired a
special workshop session at SOT, titled “Unlocking the Power of Read-Across for Safety Assessment: Current Practices and Approaches,” at the same event.
RIFM Principal Scientist Isabelle Lee, PhD, delivered the keynote address at the 8th World Candle Congress.
RIFM Principal Scientist Isabelle Lee, PhD, and RIFM President Anne Marie Api, PhD, Fellow ATS, presented animal-free methodology posters at the American Contact Dermatitis Society’s 36th Annual Meeting.
RIFM took center stage at the American Chemical Society’s Fall 2025 “Innovations in Chemistry” meeting with a series of presentations, including a half-day symposium on chemical toxicology in fragrance safety presided over by RIFM Senior Scientist Holger Moustakas, PhD, featuring presentations by RIFM Principal Scientists Aurelia Lapczynski, Isabelle Lee, PhD, and Gretchen Ritacco, MS, in concert with colleagues from the US Food & Drug Administration, the Institute for In Vitro Sciences, Creme Global, and the Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne.
RIFM Principal Scientist Gretchen Ritacco, MS, shared how fragrance botanicals are kept safe at ASCCT.
RIFM Principal Scientist Yax Thakkar, PhD, presented on fragrance genotoxicity at HESI Global’s GTA Annual Meeting.
RIFM President Anne Marie Api, PhD, Fellow ATS, RIFM Director of Scientific Operations Danielle Botelho, PhD, RIFM Principal Scientist Aurelia Lapczynski, and RIFM Senior Associate Scientist Isabella Schember, PhD, showcased next-generation risk assessment at a special lunch session at the 13th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences. At the same event, RIFM Principal Scientists Kaushal Joshi, PhD, DABT, and Nikaeta Sadekar, PhD, DABT, along with Dr. Schember and Lapczynski, highlighted RIFM’s NAMs leadership with presentations covering human health and environmental safety.