The Kane lab in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Brown University is developing novel in vitro microtissue models as alternatives to vertebrate animal testing of environmental chemicals and emerging contaminants. These new in vitro toxicity testing platforms can assess target organ toxicity after single or repeated exposures over time, focusing on quantitative biomarkers of sublethal toxicity. So far, April Rodd, a postdoctoral fellow in the Kane Lab, has developed a new 3D fish liver microtissue to assess toxicity of a common organic pollutant, benzo(a)pyrene at levels relevant for environmental exposures. Fish liver is the site of chemical metabolism that can lead to excretion of chemicals from the organism. However, reactive intermediates and metabolites can induce liver cell injury. Cynthia Browning, a postdoctoral fellow in the Kane lab, is collaborating with April Rodd on development and validation of a second fish microtissue, using a fish gill cell line as a model target organ for initial exposure to aquatic contaminants. They are currently validating this model that will be applied to assess potential adverse environmental impacts of engineered nanomaterials in collaboration with Dr. Robert Hurt's laboratory in the School of Engineering at Brown University.

DOI for Kane Lab Digital Archive and Data Repository https://doi.org/10.26300/1rnt-g102