BASF SE (BASF)

BASF create chemistry for a sustainable future. They combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. BASF aims to strengthen its position as the world’s leading chemical company. Innovations based on chemistry will play a key role in three areas in particular: resources, environment and climate; food and nutrition; quality of life. In 2017 BASF spent around €1.9 billion on research and development worldwide. In the experimental Toxicology and Ecology department of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany, about 30 scientists and 170 technicians are employed. All types of regulatory in vivo toxicity studies are performed. Additionally, screening and mechanistic studies for agrochemicals are developed. The BASF Toxicology is GLP certified since 1983. Additionally, the ecology department is DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025 accredited and the toxicology department is DIN EN 150/IEC 17020 accredited with regular audits by the national accreditation body. Apart from this, the animal facility of the BASF toxicology is AAALAC (Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care) accredited since 2007. The experimental toxicology department cooperates intensively with about 40 regulatory toxicologists of the BASF Environmental Health and Safety department.

The toxicology department of BASF SE has established a MetaMap Tox database containing the plasma metabolome (about 250 metabolites) of rat repeated dose studies with pharmaceutical, agrochemical and chemical reference compounds. These data will be used by BASF SE to evaluate metabolite pattern for characterizing AOPs of the project.

Volker has been head of the clinical pathology laboratory at the Experimental Toxicology and Ecology at BASF SE since 2006. He is member of the BASF internal metabolomics team having established a rat plasma metabolomics database with about 600 reference compounds (MetMap Tox) which is used in in the development of agrochemicals, chemicals and for read-across. In order to integrate omics technology in regulatory accepted AOP implementation, Volker was a member of a ECETOC Taskforce group: Mode of Action and Identification of Adverse vs. Nonadverse Effects (omics technologies) (2012/2013). Recently, he was nominated for an OECD Expert Group developing a GD on reporting of metabolomics data (2018). Due to the integration of thyroid hormone measurement in several OECD TGs (407, 408, 414, 421, 422, 443) for rat studies, Volker is involved in the following expert working groups: SOT Meeting Workshop: Implementing Developmental Thyroid Toxicity Guidance into Practice: What’s working, what’s not, and how can we do better? March 2017, publication in preparation; BfR Expert Hearing: Practicability of Hormonal Measurements, Oct 2017, for preparation of the Guidance document for the implementation of the hazard-based criteria to identify endocrine disruptors (EDs) in the context of Regulations (EC) No 1107/2009 and (EU) No 528/2012); ESTP Expert Workshop: Adversity of Thyroid Follicular Epithelial Hypertrophy/Hyperplasia, Differentiation between direct and indirect mechanisms and their implication for risk assessment, 2017-2018, publication in preparation. Volker Strauss will coordinate the input of BASF SE toxicology department to the ERGO project regarding rat studies with thyroid ED reference compounds.