Affiliation: CBR Division, Defence and Technology Laboratory, Salisbury, United Kingdom

Key areas of expertise: chemistry, detection and decomposition of high-toxicity chemicals/chemical warfare agents

Senior Investigator, National Cancer Institute

Dr Mark Little joined the National Cancer Institute, Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB) in 2010 as Senior Scientist, becoming a Senior Investigator in 2012. He studied mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge and obtained his doctorate in mathematics at New College, Oxford. Over the last three decades he has been analysing cancer and cardiovascular disease risks in the Japanese atomic bomb survivors, and in other irradiated populations and offspring. Previously (2000-2010), he worked in Imperial College London, and before that (1992-2000) at UK National Radiological Protection Board (now part of the UK Health Security Agency).

He is a member of Council of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) and Program Area Committee 1, and has served as consultant to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, to the International Atomic Energy Agency, to the International Committee on Radiological Protection (ICRP) (in particular as member of ICRP Task Groups 91, 119 and 122), to the UK Committee on the Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment, and to various NCRP committees (those responsible for writing Commentary 24 and Report 186, also SC 1-28).

In REB, Dr. Little is working on assessment of leukaemia risk in persons exposed at low doses and dose rates, cancer risk in various cohorts of persons exposed as result of the Chernobyl accident, on risks of various health endpoints in the US cohort of radiologic technologists, and on treatment-related second cancer risks in various populations. He has particular interests in machine learning methods and dose measurement error models, with application to assessment of low-dose and low-dose-rate risk of childhood leukaemia, circulatory disease and cataract.  He has over 380 publications in the peer-reviewed literature.

Professor at the Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf, Germany

Ellen Fritsche, MD, is a full University Professor at the Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf, Germany and working group leader of the group ‘Alternative method development for environmental toxicity testing’ at the IUF – Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine. In addition, she holds a Guest Professorship at the Zhejiang Chinese Medical University in Hangzhou, China. She is a medical doctor by training and habilitated in environmental toxicology. Her research focuses on 2 topics, namely (i) elucidation of molecular mechanisms causing developmental, neuro- as well as developmental neurotoxicity, and (ii) establishment, scientific validation and application of in vitro alternative methods for developmental, neuro- as well as developmental neurotoxicity.

She has more than 20 years of experience in toxicological sciences including mechanistic studies and more than 15 years of experience in the development of new approach methods in vitro. She has been coordinating several international research projects, including the EFSA-DNT project for application of a developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) in vitro battery for regulatory purposes. She participates in two H2020 projects, ENDpoiNTs and ONTOX where she serves as Work package leader and the Horizon Europe project PARC.

She is a member of the German MAK commission (Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area), the DNT in vitro OECD Expert Group producing a Guidance Document for the DNT in vitro battery and the scientific advisory group for this guidance document. She authored more than 90 publications in international peer-reviewed journals (h-index in Research Gate: 43), scientific opinions and book chapters. She is editor-in-chief of the journal Frontiers in Neurotoxicology. Recently, she founded the start-up company DNTOX – providing in vitro assay services for safety assessment.