Launch of SbD4Skin

Launch of SbD4Skin: A New AI Tool for Safer Chemicals

On 11th June 2025, the SSbD4CheM project hosted a stakeholder outreach webinar titled “Practical Application and Case Studies in Industrial Safe and Sustainable by Design”. The webinar brought together researchers and industry experts for the project to explore the practical implementation of the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework, with a strong focus on real-world industrial applications. 

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QSAR2025

SSbD4CheM @ QSAR 2025

The SSbD4CheM project was featured at the 21st International Workshop on QSAR in Environmental and Health Sciences (QSAR 2025), held from 3 to 6 June 2025 in Milan, Italy. Hosted at the Mario Negri Institute, the event brought together around 100 participants from research, industry, and regulatory organisations.

QSAR 2025 served as a key platform for discussing the latest advances in in silico toxicology, with a strong focus on QSAR modelling, read-across approaches, and New Approach Methodologies (NAMs). The workshop highlighted how these computational tools support chemical safety assessment within frameworks like Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) and regulatory initiatives such as REACH and CLP.

The programme included keynote contributions from prominent institutions such as OECD, ECHA, and EFSA, alongside hands-on sessions, and poster discussions that fostered knowledge exchange and collaboration among participants.

Cristina Sánchez Ferri, from SSbD4CheM partner ITENE, contributed to the conference through a poster presentation entitled “Automated hazard assessment pipeline for SSbD: Integrating bibliographic and QSAR predicted data for safety assessment”, presented in the session “(Q)SARs for screening, prioritization and data gap filling”. The work presented an automated Python-based pipeline designed to streamline hazard assessment in line with the SSbD framework. By integrating existing bibliographic data with QSAR predictions, the tool enables efficient data gap filling, prioritisation of substances for testing, and improved data consistency and traceability. A novel Consistency Index was introduced to assess the reliability of the aggregated data, enhancing transparency and robustness in decision-making processes.

The participation of SSbD4CheM in QSAR 2025 was highly relevant, as the methodologies and workflows developed within the project are closely aligned with the conference themes, particularly in the application of computational tools for regulatory and sustainability purposes.

The workshop provided valuable insights into current trends, challenges, and best practices in QSAR modelling and its regulatory applications. It also offered opportunities for networking and future collaboration, reinforcing the importance of harmonisation, transparency, and validation in computational toxicology.

Through its presence at QSAR 2025, the SSbD4CheM project continues to strengthen its contribution to the development and implementation of innovative in silico approaches supporting the transition towards safer and more sustainable chemicals.

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Recap of the SSbD4CheM External Stakeholder Webinar on 11 June 2025

On 11th June 2025, the SSbD4CheM project hosted a stakeholder outreach webinar titled “Practical Application and Case Studies in Industrial Safe and Sustainable by Design”. The webinar brought together researchers and industry experts for the project to explore the practical implementation of the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework, with a strong focus on real-world industrial applications. 

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BNN-News_EUIndTech2025_RoundTable

SSbD4CheM @ EUIndTech2025

EUIndTech2025 is the new EU flagship event, in which the two cyclical events, “Conference on Industrial Technologies” and “EuroNanoForum” are merged. This year it was done during the Polish presidency of the EU Council in Krakow, Poland.

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Internal Training on Pyrolysis-GCMS and Analytical Methodologies at VITO

From 11-15 May 2025 took place the SETAC 2025, the 35th Annual Meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry in Europe, at the Austria Center in Vienna.

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The SSbD4Chem project was included in the latest BNN QUARTERLY 02/2025

SSbD4CheM @ BNN QUARTERLY (June 2025)

SSbD4CheM project was included in the latest BNN QUARTERLY 02/2025 (February 2025).

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SSbD4CheMSession5

SSbD4CheM @ SETAC 2025

From 11-15 May 2025 took place the SETAC 2025, the 35th Annual Meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry in Europe, at the Austria Center in Vienna.

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SSbD4CheMStakeholderWebinar

SSbD4CheM External Stakeholder Workshop “Practical application and Case Studies in industrial SSbD”

On 11 June 2025 from 15:00 to 16:30h CEST, SSbD4CheM is organising its first webinar for external stakeholders on the “Practical Application and Case Studies in Industrial Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD)”.

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Internal Training on ChemInformatics tools

On 21 May 2025, during the second day of our General Assembly in M17 in Valencia (Spain), the colleagues of NovaMechanics and Entelos (Panagiotis Kolokathis and Tassos Papadiamantis), gave an internal training to the whole consortium (approx. 25 participants) on the ChemoInformatics tools that they develop, to learn how to use them for data analysis and machine learning, run exposure scenarios, calculate atomistic desriptors, run already developed machine learning model and understanding their output (e.g. applicability domain).

During the session entitled “Investigation of Chemicals and Materials Safety through the Isalos, Enalos and Eos Cloud Platform tools and functionalities”, participants learned to use computational tools powered by the Enalos Cloud Platform, Eos Cloud Platform, and the functionalities/workflows of Isalos Analytics Platform, to predict the properties of a range of chemicals and materials for a range of case studies. Additionally, all partners discussed ideas about the applicability of these tools within the project.

Detailed program:
  1. Lung Deposition – A web application developed for analyzing particle deposition in human lungs and evaluating associated hazards based on the ICRP or the MPPD model.
  2. SimpleBox4Planet – This tool provides a user-friendly environment to access the SimpleBox, a multimedia mass balance model used to evaluate the fate of chemical substances in the environment. The tool includes a database with the properties of candidate substances used as PFAS alternatives.
  3. MicroPlasticFate – This web application simulates the fate and behaviour of nano- and microplastics (NMPs) aross multiple environmental scales, including regional, continental and global scale, each of which consists of compartments/media of air, soil, water and sediment.
  4. NanoXtract – Unique online tool for the calculation of 18 image descriptors based on Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) images of nanomaterials.
  5. UANanoDock – It is a web-based United Atom multiscale nano-docking tool for predicting protein adsorption onto nanoparticles at a selected pH (e.g., preferential protein orientation, adsorption energy, etc).
  6. Titania – Tool for the simultaneous property and toxicity prediction of sets of chemical compounds. Users can import compounds of interest by drawing molecules and inspect a 3D visualization of their molecular structures post-drawing.
  7. Nanotube Construct – Tool for the digital construction of energy minimized nanotubes of single layer materials and calculation of their atomic descriptors powered by the Enalos Cloud Platform.
  8. HydroNanoConstruct – Toolbox for the digital reconstruction of energy minimized metal-oxide nanoparticles, based on their CIF files and the calculation of their atomistic descriptors, in water.
  9. Sbd4Skin – SbD4Skin incorporates quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models for skin toxicity endpoints prediction (acute dermal toxicity, skin irritation potential, and skin sensitization potential).
  10. Isalos Analytics Platform (Reference link 1 and Reference link 2) – The so-called Isalos, is a simple and user-friendly software designed to facilitate data manipulation and model development without requiring programming skills. This platform empowers non-programmers to engage in data analytics through an intuitive interface, which leverages commonly used computer functions such as menus, buttons, and spreadsheets.
Takis during the internal training

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SSbD4CheM_GA-M17_Valencia

SSbD4CheM General Assembly M17

On 20-21 May 2025 SSbD4CheM consortium met in Valencia (Spain) for our M17 General Assembly in the facilities of ITENE, our experts in SSbD, leading the work package dealing with the sustainability assessment across the life cycle assessment (LCA).

We kicked off the meeting with a warm welcome from Carmen Sánchez (technical director of ITENE) and our coordinator, Milica Velimirovic from VITO, setting the stage for the WP presentations showcasing the progress in the project.

A special spotlight of the day was on our internal case studies in automotive, textiles, and cosmetics, where our colleagues from WOOD K plus (Claudia Pretschuh), CTCR (Eduardo Santamaría) and NIC (Ondrej Panak) updated us with the developments and findings — it was inspiring to see how SSbD is being applied across diverse sectors!

The second day of the meeting started with a pitch presentation session of some of our Early Career Researchers on their last research:

  • Xiaoyu Zhang from VITO and Mansoor Ahmad Bhat from Loughborough University on their research on particle analysis in the textiles case study (washing processes). The titles of their presentations were “Tailored Analytical Approaches to Assess Microplastics and Nanoparticles Release from Textiles During Washing” and “Washing Test for Textiles”, respectively.
  • Thomas Arblaster from University of Leiden on his research on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (advancing the method to expand the toolbox, as well as its application, i.e., robust application of the toolbox).

After that, ITENE colleagues guided us through their impressive labs, showing us their equipment and all the different processes they are able to do!

The meeting ended with an internal training on ChemInformatics tools by our colleagues from  NovaMechanics and Entelos (Panagiotis Kolokathis and Tassos Papadiamantis).

Huge thanks to ITENE and their whole team behind for being a great host, ensuring a smooth meeting, bringing all us to Valencia and giving us a real culinary journey featuring many local specialities, where paella, of course, was not missing!!

Some highlights of the 2 sunny days in Valencia:

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