BIOMONECS

EUROPEAN PROJECT COORDINATORS

BIOMONECS is an acronym for Biological Monitoring of Exposure to Carcinogenic Substances. The project is supported by the European Commission under the Standardisation Measurement and Testing (SMT) programme (contract CRAF-1999-71801). The programme was initiated by the University of Nijmegen and is co-ordinated by AB Biomonitoring Ltd.

Knowledge transfer

A key objective of BIOMONECS is the transfer of valuable knowledge concerning biomonitoring methodology and analytical chemical procedures from academic R&D labs to commercial enterprises. The reasons for knowledge transfer are practical:

1. Research and education are the core business of universities. Routine analyses are not activities that contribute to the esteem and prestige of university laboratories.

2. Most university labs do not have quality assurance certificates nor do they seek to obtain them.

3. Universities usually do not have an organisation that can support customer services very well. Also, most universities do not have an active acquisition policy.

4. University labs normally do not have dedicated analytical instruments for efficient analyses of large numbers of samples on a routine basis.

What does BIOMONECS mean for routine labs?

1. Biomonitoring programmes benefit from the knowledge and expertise of toxicologists, occupational hygienists, epidemiologists and biostatisticians for study design, interpretation of results and health risk communication. These disciplines available in University institutes are made accessible to the commercial labs through participation in the programme.

2. Commercial labs are informed of new and recent developments by Universities in the field of biomarkers in a timely manner.

The BIOMONECS consortium

The participants in BIOMONECS are research and technology developers (RTDs) which are academic labs involved in the development of chemical analytical methods used in biomonitoring. These world renowned institutes include the Universities of Duisburg (DL), Erlangen (DL), Louvain (BE), Nijmegen (NL), Stockholm (SE) and Copenhagen (DK). The other partners are small and medium enterprise (SME) routine labs that do not have their own extensive R&D facilities or direct access to new biomonitoring methods.

The advisory board

The advisory board serves to support the correct use of biomonitoring methods by supplying documentation to the end-user which is supported by sound scientific research. The advisory board will also be asked to approve of protocols, instructions and questionnaires used during pilot studies. Furthermore, the advisory board will be asked to reflect on technical issues such as quality assurance issues, ethical issues, etc. The members of the advisory board are:

Dr. P. Aston, PhD (biochemist) Prof. dr. J. Angerer, PhD (toxicologist) Dr. P. Boogaard, PhD (toxicologist) Dr. J. Dankers, (clinical chemist) Dr. L.E. Knudsen (epidemiologist)

Dr. N. Roeleveld, PhD (epidemiologist) Prof. dr. H. Roels, PhD (toxicologist) Dr. F. van Rooij, MD (occupational physician) Dr. P. Sessink, PhD (chemist) Dr.P.Scheepers (occupational toxicologist)