RIFM’s Drs. Isabelle Lee and Anne Marie Api To Participate in American Contact Dermatitis Society’s 36th Annual Meeting   

The Research Institute for Fragrance Materials’ President Anne Marie Api, PhD, fellow ATS, and Senior Scientist Isabelle Lee, PhD, skin sensitization lead for safety assessments and research projects, will participate at the American Contact Dermatitis Society’s 36th Annual Meeting. 

The ACDS meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Orlando, FL.

Drs. Api and Lee will be on hand in the Exhibit Hall to engage dermatologists and other fragrance safety stakeholders with two posters supporting RIFM’s longstanding animal-free skin sensitization risk assessment of fragrance ingredients.

“Presenting this work at the ACDS Annual Meeting is essential for advancing scientific dialogue on modern risk assessment methods,” explained Dr. Api. “It helps ensure safe and innovative approaches for fragrance ingredient evaluation.”

Application of In Vitro Regression Models in Next-Gen Risk Assessment

This poster introduces a new framework for assessing the skin safety of fragrance ingredients using animal-free (in vitro) tests. The method follows a step-by-step approach, including measuring chemical reactions with skin proteins and cells and applying mathematical models to predict safe exposure levels. A case study on the fragrance ingredient p-mentha-1,8-diene showed that this method provides reliable safe-use limits, sometimes more cautious than animal testing.

Clarifying QRA Approach in the Context of NGRA

The second poster outlines how traditional Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) and Next Generation Risk Assessment (NGRA) work together to ensure the safe use of fragrance ingredients. While QRA has traditionally relied on animal or human data, NGRA incorporates new non-animal testing methods to assess skin sensitization risk. The study clarifies that both approaches share core principles, such as identifying hazards, assessing exposure, and determining safe levels. By integrating QRA into NGRA, RIFM can establish maximum acceptable concentrations solely using in vitro data.

“Sharing our research at ACDS helps bridge traditional and next-generation risk assessment methods, fostering collaboration toward more reliable, animal-free safety evaluations,” said Lee.