Network for Early-Stage Toxicologists (NEST)

The BTS Network for Early-Stage Toxicologists (NEST) is an inclusive network with the remit of actively representing its members within the BTS and wider toxicology arena. It aims to be innovative in supporting, nurturing, educating, and recruiting individuals in the early stages of their toxicology careers. We are here to support toxicologists with less than 10 years of experience (taking career breaks into consideration).

 

As a committee we have numerous roles which include producing our podcast ‘Flying the NEST’, running NEST specific social media, supporting the BTS mentoring scheme and helping to promote toxicology as a career at career fairs. If you are interested in joining our mentoring scheme or discussing your research via our podcast then do get in touch, we would love to hear from you!

Get in touch via e-mail: nest@thebts.org

Flying the NEST podcast

NEST Committee

Nevine is currently a PhD student at the University of Hertfordshire. Her project is a collaboration with the U.S Army and is sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). Her project involves investigating various decontamination techniques and procedures for mitigating the dermal absorption of chemical warfare agents.

Prior to embarking on a PhD, Nevine was already part of the Centre of Topical Drug Delivery and Toxicology (TDDT) and played an important role in the evidence-based development of the Primary Response Incident Scene Management (PRISM) guidance which provides strategic, tactical and operational guidance on mass casualty decontamination during a chemical incident. Prior to joining TDDT Nevine completed a Masters degree in Biomedical and Molecular Sciences from King’s College London with a focus on genetics and environmental toxicology.

Jamie Dunn is a regulatory toxicologist at Penman Consulting and is currently involved in the development of testing strategies and read-acrossjustifications for key industrial hydrocarbons in the chemicals industry, including alkene gases and specialty alkenessuch as polyalphaolefins. He studied Pharmacology as an undergraduate at the University of Manchester, followed by a part-time MSc in Toxicology at the University of Birmingham whilst working full time.

Outside of work, he enjoys writing, playing and recording music, and employs these skills in developing the new NEST podcast series.

 

After completing my BSc in Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the University of Thessaly and an MSc Toxicology degree from the same university, I joined British American Tobacco in 2017 as a toxicologist and consumer product safety assessor.

Since joining BAT, my focus has been on conducting detailed human health risk assessments for flavouring ingredients that are used in consumer products. I have also experience evaluating devices and device materials for both e-cigarettes and tobacco heating products. Following my role in BAT I became a toxicology consultant and worked on pet care, laundry, OTC, medical devices and cannabis product assessments while leading and supporting teams of toxicologists. Currently, I am working in Imperial Brands focusing on vaping products and oral nicotine products.

After obtaining my BSc Biochemistry and MSc Toxicology from the National University of Ireland, I joined the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) traineeship program as a toxicology trainee in the Scientific Committee and Emerging Risks unit. Following on from my traineeship I worked as Junior Toxicologist with Delphic HSE prior to starting my PhD in 2019.

Currently, I am a third year PhD student in the In Vitro Toxicology Group at Swansea University. My research project is in collaboration with AstraZeneca and investigates the use of automated high content imaging for carcinogenicity testing in vitro.

As part of the Network for Early-Stage Toxicologists (NEST), I contribute to our social media, and I am a co-opted member of Scientific Subcommittee (SSC).

After completing my BSc in Biological Sciences at the University of Leicester and MSc Toxicology degree from the University of Birmingham, I joined Unilever’s Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre (SEAC) in 2017 as a toxicologist and consumer product risk assessor.

Since joining Unilever, my focus has been on exposure led next generation risk assessment (NGRA) for consumer product ingredients. My current role as a capability build platform/project lead focuses on driving development and application of new approach methodologies (NAMs) for hazard and exposure assessment, and utilising integrated computational modelling approaches, in order to answer skin allergy and systemic safety questions. I also directly support our beauty and personal care business through my role as a risk assessor.

I am a member of The British Toxicology Society (BTS) Network for Early Stage Toxicologists (NEST) Sub-Committee, and am co-opted onto the BTS Education, Training and Career Development Sub-Committee.

Frederique Marie Uy is a radiological/toxicological risk assessor in the Civil Service. She completed her undergraduate studies in Biomedical Science from Keele University in 2015. She then started her career in Regulatory Toxicology working as a Chemical Regulations Consultant for a private consultancy company. Whilst in this role, she undertook a part-time MSc to study Toxicology at the University of Birmingham, her thesis assessed the human health impacts of tattoo and permanent make-up inks in partnership with Public Health England (now UK Health Security Agency) and graduated in 2018.  Her main interests lie in chemical risk assessment and radiation protection.

 

 

 Kary began her career in toxicology as an Associate Toxicologist in Penman Consulting in 2019, where she gained valuable experience in the industry through performing risk assessment, assisting in developing mammalian testing strategies and study monitoring, and the preparation and submission of scientific documents to regulatory authorities.
 During this period, Kary has developed a strong interest in in-silico toxicology and its application on NAMs, and has enrolled in a part time MSc Bioinformatics programme at the University of London, with professional and financial support from Penman Consulting.

Prior to her career in toxicology, Kary was awarded MChem from University of Leicester in 2017, with a background in computational chemistry. She had subsequently worked in academia at the national research academy in Taiwan, assisting research on artificial electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction, as well as in the pharmaceutical industry, where she was introduced to COSHH risk assessment at her role in GlaxoSmithKline.

Julianna is currently on secondment with the Public Communications sub-committee.

Shortly after gaining a master’s in science from Heriot-Watt University (2015), Julianna started work as a Regulatory Toxicologist, specialising in human health, with the Health & Safety Executive (HSE, 2016 – current). Her work mainly focuses on pesticides and biocides approvals. Her main interests lie in carcinogenicity, chemical hazard and risk assessment, and alternatives to vertebrate testing. Julianna has been a member of the BTS since beginning in this role. She is actively involved in the work of the BTS as a membership ambassador and a member of the Communications Sub-Committee (CSC, 2019 – current, co-opted), focussing on social media engagement and outreach. More recently, Julianna joined the Network for Early-Stage Toxicologists committee (NEST, 2021 – current), focusing on the engagement between established and early-stage toxicologists. Julianna was accepted on the UK and EU Registers of Toxicologists in 2021.

 

Ishita Virmani is currently pursuing a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences at Masaryk University, Czech Republic. She is a member of the Cell and Tissue Toxicology group, where her research focuses on the use of in vitro models to investigate the effects of environmental chemicals, especially in relation to male reproductive toxicity.Ishita is passionate about exploring New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) for risk assessment. She is an active member of both the Society of Toxicology and the American College of Toxicology. Prior to her PhD, Ishita earned an MRes degree from Newcastle University in the UK. In her free time, she enjoys traveling and reading books.

Emma currently works as an experimental Toxicologist at the UK Health security Agency. Her current work is focused on validation of a non-animal test method related to endocrine disputing chemicals and non-genotoxic carcinogenesis for human health hazard assess

ment in collaboration with Defra. Whilst in this role Emma has gained an interest in international toxicological regulation as well as development of NAM’s. Previously she studied Biochemistry specialising in genetics as an undergraduate, continued by a Masters in Toxicology at the University of Birmingham graduating in 2022.