Dr. Vikas Kumar and his team will be involved in a new EU project, which is named MERLON (Merging scientific evidence with regulatory practices and leveraging identification of endocrine disruptors using new approach methodologies) and will be coordinated by the Technical University of Denmark [DTU].
There will be 11 prominent EU institutions participating: (1) Technical University of Denmark, Denmark DTU, 2) Vrije Universiteit, Netherland VUA, 3) Karolinska Institute, Sweden KI, 4) Research Institute For Environmental And Occupational Health, France IRSET, 5) The Capital Region of Denmark, Denmark REGIONH, 6) University of Lieg, Belgium ULIEGE, 7) Pere Virgili Institute for Health Research, Spain IISPV, 8) National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Netherland RIVM, 9) University of Cordoba, Spain UCO, 10) Health and Environment Alliance, Belgium HEAL, and 11) Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Norway NIVA).
The project will last 5 years and it will start from December 2023. MERLON is focused on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) by developing the adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework, especially quantitative AOP networks, and increasing the availability of human-relevant new approach methodologies (NAMs) to bridge the gap between science and policy needed to advance regulatory decision making and reduce health impacts of EDCs. Therefore, the focused endpoint will be reproductive toxicity after exposure to EDCs.
