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Last week, I had the immense pleasure of joining the first Summer School of the NeXED Doctoral Network, our Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network, hosted by the Museum national d'Histoire naturelle and Sorbonne Université. These centuries-old monuments of science were the perfect setting for such an in-depth scientific training experience.

Being in Paris, I had no other choice than to visit the Panthéon and pay tribute to Marie Skłodowska-Curie, whose legacy the European Commission chose to honour through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme.

At a time when science, scientific integrity, trust in scientific evidence, and academic freedom are increasingly being challenged around the world, including in the EU, it is more important than ever to remember the many great scientists who paved the way, and in the case of Marie Curie, paid the ultimate price and gave their life for science.

Marie Curie’s life and career remind us that good, solid science is not self-evident, and that the core values of academic freedom can not be taken for granted. We have a responsibility to teach the next generation of scientists that good science requires more than intelligence and hard work. It also demands integrity, courage, character, and ethics.

Marie Curie said: "All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child." This is exactly how I experienced our NeXED PhD students last week: full of energy, curiosity, enthusiasm, willingness to learn, eagerness to know and determination to discover the truth. It was heartwarming to see how Marie Curie's legacy continues to live on in young scientists that are beginning to build their careers under her name.

It made me feel humbled and proud to serve as the coordinator of such a beautiful, exceptional group of people. Most of all, I left the Summer School full of confidence. Confidence in the future, in the next generation of scientists, and in the science they will create.

🧪 Last week, our NeXED doctoral candidates had their first major in-person training event: a summer school in Paris, hosted by Museum national d'Histoire naturelle and Sorbonne Université, at the Development, Adaptation and Ageing lab.

🐸🐟 The programme combined lectures with hands-on training in in vitro tools and gene editing in Xenopus and zebrafish, led by the fantastic team in Paris!

🎓 Our doctoral candidates met experts to discuss the ethics of toxicology research (Cecilia Bognon Kuss), challenges in chemical regulation and method validation (Cécile MICHEL-CAILLET, PEPPER), work with amphibian models (David Du Pasquier Laboratoire WatchFrog) and ongoing research in human biomonitoring (Jean-Philippe Antignac, LABERCA). They also got a first look at next year's summer school on fish histopathology (Lisa Baumann)

🙏 A big thank you to Jean-Baptiste FINI, Sakina Mhaouty-Kodja, Lydie N. and their whole team for their hospitality and excellent organisation. And thanks to our coordinating team Dries Knapen and Lucia Vergauwen for joining the event. Everyone learned a lot, and it was a great week of team-building and fun social events too! 🎉

As part of the PhD journey within the NeXED Doctoral Network, Javier Marín Lucas recently completed a two-week research secondment at Agilent Technologies in Cheadle, Manchester.

The secondment provided an important opportunity to further develop expertise in High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS) and gain valuable hands-on experience with advanced analytical techniques and instrumentation.

During the stay, the Agilent team provided a warm and welcoming environment, with Jonathan Spencer playing a particularly important role in supporting the research and sharing his expertise throughout the secondment. The close collaboration offered valuable insights and practical experience, while also providing an opportunity to engage with an industrial research environment.

The secondment concluded with a wealth of high-resolution data, new skills and valuable experiences that will contribute to the ongoing PhD research at the Toxicological Centre. Javier looks forward to applying the knowledge and expertise gained at Agilent to further his research and address related analytical challenges.

The NeXED Doctoral Network is grateful to Agilent Technologies and everyone involved for making this secondment a valuable and enriching part of the doctoral training journey.   

Between 27 May and 4 June 2026, all doctoral candidates successfully presented their project proposals during the 3rd NeXED Network-wide Training Event. The event fostered in-depth discussions on research methodologies, project approaches, future milestones, and potential collaborations through three thematic sessions: Development and application of AOP-networks, Cross-species comparisons, and Cross-axis interactions and chemical/mixture selection.

A delegation of NeXED PhD students just showcased their work at SETAC Maastricht 🙌✨

So inspiring to see them engaging with the scientific community, sharing their research, and confidently joining discussions in the poster sessions 💬🔬

You did an amazing job promoting our work on EDCs, AOPs, OMICs, zebrafish, Environmental Health, and OneHealth 🧪🐟🌍 

Well done!! 👏 💚 Nora Oleana Karlsson, Marta Ferreira da Silva, Emilie Daut, Clara Kempkens, Yann Stehly, and Megan Parker​

Between 4 February and 30 April 2026, all doctoral candidates successfully completed the NeXED Core Training Workshops. Throughout the program, they explored topics such as principles of (eco)toxicology, principles of endocrine disruption, regulatory assessment and identification of EDs, New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), analytical chemistry and its application for assessment of EDs, Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) and its applications, and systematic review methodology and Weight of Evidence assessment.

Last week, our NeXED team finally came together in person and it was absolutely energizing! 🚀

We enjoyed two days filled with inspiring oral and poster presentations, plenary sessions, scientific discussions, and many moments of genuine connection. The room was buzzing with ideas, collaboration, and excitement for what’s ahead.

A huge thank you to all participants for your enthusiasm. You made this kickoff a true success. This is only the beginning, and we are very much looking forward to what’s coming NeXED 😉

On February 3, Campus Club took place at the University of Antwerp, welcoming students from the fifth and sixth years of secondary school to get a first taste of university life🎓

During the zebrafish embryo workshop 🐟🔎, our doctoral candidates Laura Veensalu and Peter Schumann introduced students to early developmental stages while sharing their experiences as PhD researchers 👩‍🔬👨‍🔬

Students observed zebrafish embryos under the microscope 🔬, identified different developmental stages themselves, and discussed their observations - thinking like real researchers 🥼

Beyond developmental biology, the session also highlighted how zebrafish embryos are used in (eco)toxicology to study the impact of environmental pollutants on early life stages 🌍🧪

We hope this workshop sparked curiosity and perhaps even inspired the next generation of scientist 🚀

​#UAntwerpenFBD #UAntwerpen​

On 27 January 2026, we held our first online meet & greet meeting, bringing together our PhD candidates and their supervisors for the first time. Everyone introduced themselves and shared their research interests and roles within the network, giving a great overview of the exciting science ahead. The meeting was very engaging and set a positive, collaborative tone for the project. We’re thrilled to be working with such a motivated and diverse team and are really looking forward to the collaboration, training activities, and scientific progress to come.

Our doctoral candidate Lea Berger had the opportunity to present her project at the PhD Retreat 2026 in Milano Marittima. 

The event was organized by the PhD program Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, Experimental and Clinical at the University of Milan. Lea showcased her poster titled:

🧠 “Novel approaches to assess the impact of EDCs in the adult nervous system”

This work is supervised by Barbara Viviani

🔍 Keywords: non‑EATS • retinoid signaling • adult neurotoxicity • AOPs • IATA • NAMs

Tommaso Giorgi had the pleasure of joining the Karolinska Institutet ToxMaster Career Event as an alumnus!🎓

"It felt special to be on the other side this time, sharing what I’ve been doing since graduating: my traineeship at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and my current position as a PhD student at DTU - Technical University of Denmark in the NeXED Doctoral Network . It was wonderful to reconnect with professors, meet future colleagues, and catch up with fellow alumni! Big thanks to Annika Hanberg and all the professors of the Global Master's program in Toxicology for organizing the event and the kind invitation! 🥂♥️"

On 5 November 2025, we had our first group meeting with the NeXED DCs. Really happy to meet everyone and kick off the research and training programme.

Trainee Author Spotlight: Peter Schumann will be starting as a PhD student at the University of Antwerp later this fall, and is first author ona recent ToxSci article: https://lnkd.in/eNtNibca.

What are you working on now that you’re particularly excited about and how will it advance the field?"

In my graduate studies, I will be developing a cross-species Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) network for neurotoxicity resulting from exposure to endocrine disrupting compounds. This will provide a toxicological context for molecular-level impacts from chemical exposure that can be extrapolated to potential ecological effects through a cross-species perspective.

"When you aren’t engaged in scientific research, what are your hobbies, interests, or passions?"

I love spending time outdoors, walking through the forest, identifying plants and mushrooms, and gardening. I also love to rock climb (mostly bouldering). Lately, since I've been preparing for a move to Belgium (Flanders region), I've been spending a lot of time learning Dutch.

"Any fun facts about yourself that you want to share with ToxSci readers? "

I have a dog named Chaga, who is named after a medicinal fungus (Inonotus obliquus) that grows on birch trees in the forests around my small town in northern Wisconsin."

🧑‍🎓  DC1: Clara Kempkens (Lead supervisor: Lisa Baumann, VU)

🧑‍🎓  DC2: Tommaso Giorgi (Lead supervisor: Terje Svingen, DTU)

🧑‍🎓  DC3: Peter Schumann (Lead supervisor: Dries Knapen, UA)

🧑‍🎓  DC4: Muhammad Arslan Aslam (Lead supervisor: Anna Beronius, KI)

🧑‍🎓  DC5: Gabriele Morillo (Lead supervisor: David Du Pasquier, WF)

🧑‍🎓  DC6: Gabrielle Guillaume Boulaire (Lead supervisor: Klára Hilscherová, MU)

🧑‍🎓  DC7: Marta Silva (Lead supervisor: Henrik Holbeck, SDU)

🧑‍🎓  DC8: Laura Veensalu (Lead supervisor: Lucia Vergauwen, UA)

🧑‍🎓  DC9: Javier Marin (Lead supervisor: Adrian Covaci, UA)

🧑‍🎓  DC10: Lea Berger (Lead supervisor: Barbara Viviani, UMIL)

🧑‍🎓  DC11: Yann Stehly (Lead supervisor: Elvis Genbo Xu, SDU)

🧑‍🎓  DC12: Emilie Daut (Lead supervisor: Pim Leonards, VU)

🧑‍🎓  DC13: Giorgio Repossi (Lead supervisor: Jean-Baptiste Fini, CNRS)

🧑‍🎓  DC14: Nora Karlsson (Lead supervisor: Timo Hamers, VU)

🧑‍🎓  DC15: Megan Parker (Lead supervisor: Ioanna Katsiadaki, Cefas)

We are an international team of toxicologist and ecotoxicologist working on endocrine disruptor assessment. In this MSCA Doctoral Network, we will combine our expertise with different partners from academia, industry, regulatory agencies, SMEs and consultancy firms.

We will train the next generation of cross-disciplinary toxicologists specialized in harmonized One Health approaches to protect humans and the environment from the impact of harmful chemicals.

On 21/ January 2025, we had our kick-off meeting and prepared the 15 PhD vacancies to be opened soon. 

Meet the 15 PIs and project manager: Dries Knapen, Lucia Vergauwen, Lisa Baumann, Timo Hamers, Henrik Holbech, Pim Leonards, Elvis Genbo Xu, Klara Hilscherova, Anna Beronius, Terje Svingen, David Du Pasquier, Jean-Baptiste FINI, Ioanna Katsiadaki, Adrian Covaci, Barbara Viviani and Evelyn Stinckens.

See our list of NeXED lead supervisors here!

Click here to browse the entire consortium!

We are pleased to share that our official NeXED LinkedIn page is now active. Together with the News and Outreach sections on our website, this platform will provide regular updates on network achievements, forthcoming events, and research developments across NeXED.

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nexed-doctoral-network/​

NeXED will train the next generation of true cross-disciplinary toxicologists specialized in harmonized One Health approaches for the assessment of endocrine disrupters, no longer approaching assessment of chemicals from either a human or an environmental health perspective separately.

🌎 We bring together 10 partners and 10 associated partners from 10 countries, all leading experts in the assessment of endocrine disruptors.

👉 NeXED will host 15 PhD candidates across Europe!

Follow us on LinkedIn!

🗝️ Introducing the core NeXED principles

NeXED is a doctoral network that is designed to train a new generation of cross-disciplinary toxicologists specialised in human AND environmental risk assessment of endocrine disruptors.

Why is this cross-disciplinary approach so important? 💡

Traditionally, regulatory procedures for identification and assessment of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are separated for human health and the environment. Due to the similarities in toxicological responses between humans and wildlife, there is an opportunity to share toxicological information between these two disciplines. Several projects have been working on such a holistic approach, including the Horizon 2020 EURION cluster project ERGO EU Project, by developing a cross-species approach for extrapolation of EDC effects across vertebrate classes. Also the European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC), focuses on development of methods, AOPs and IATAs for both human and environmental health. The separation of disciplines is also reflected in the different trainings of toxicologists and ecotoxicologists at Universities.

Consequently, based on past and ongoing efforts in EURION and PARC, NeXED combines the expertise of 15 EDC researchers from both fields: classic toxicology (focused on humans) and ecotoxicology (focused on the environment).

Doctoral candidates in NeXED will benefit from being trained in both fields, human end environmental toxicology, thereby promoting the urgently needed paradigm shift in EDC assessment towards One Health.

The mixture makes the poison? ☠️🧪

Current risk assessment methods for EDCs focus on individual chemicals, as required by EU regulations like REACH. However, in real life, humans and the environment are exposed to complex mixtures of potential EDCs, such as PFAS.

Chemical mixtures, with different ED mechanisms, can interact in ways we don’t fully understand, especially given the crosstalk between endocrine systems, such as the thyroid and steroid hormone system. Thus, investigating the effects of real-life EDC mixtures is essential for more accurate and realistic EDC assessments to protect human and environmental health.

In NeXED, we will gain insight into interaction among endocrine axes in complex exposure mixtures including analysis of the exposome in order to improve environmental realism in EDC assessment. 5 of the 15 PhD projects in NeXED will work with mixtures of EDCs and assess their effects using different in silico, in vitro and in vivo methods.

How can we improve regulatory testing of endocrine disruptors EDCs? 🥼🧪☠️

The current regulatory framework for EDC testing has multiple gaps that will be addressed in the doctoral network NeXED:

❌  The European Chemicals Agency / European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) guidance currently focuses on Estrogen, Androgen, Thyroid and Steroidogenesis (EATS) modalities but does not include other endocrine modalities, such as retinoic acid pathway signalling or xenobiotic receptors.

❌  Currently validated assays only cover vertebrate species (mammals, fish and amphibians) but lack tests for the assessment of EDCs in invertebrates, even though promising approaches are available.

❌  Existing test approaches do not take the complexity of the endocrine system into account. Advanced metabolomics analyses can be applied to investigate crosstalk and feedback loops.

✅  PhD projects in NeXED will develop novel approaches for EDC assessment such as the inclusion of non-EATS modalities, application of invertebrate tests, and advanced metabolomics approaches.