Profilová informácia

Helena Kandarova
Director at IEPT at CEM, Slovak Academy of Sciences
Lecturer at FCHPT STU
ESTIV president
SETOX vice-president
SNP3Rs - chair
EUROTOX faculty
InVitroTox Consulting, s.r.o. - CEO

Helena's main field of interest is the development of in vitro methods for the reduction & replacement of in vivo tests for topical toxicity testing. Throughout her academic and professional career, she has been involved in projects aimed at the evaluation and validation of 3D reconstructed human tissue (RhT) models as replacements for animal tests. In particular, she had been involved in successful validation and pre-validation studies for skin corrosion, skin, and eye irritation testing of chemicals, cosmetics and medical devices.

Dr. Helena Kandarova, ERT is a Senior Scientist at the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Centre of Experimental Medicine (CEM), Bratislava. At CEM, Helena is responsible for the management of the Slovak EU-NETVAL GLP-compliant laboratory and participates in several national and international projects, including EU funded H2020 project ONTOX www.ontox-project.eu that uses artificial intelligence tools to identify data-gaps, and consequently applies the state-of-the-art in vitro and in silico testing to complement the missing information. Dr. Kandarova also holds a position of assistant professor at the Institute of Biochemistry and Microbiology, where she lectures on Cell and tissue culture techniques and leads bachelor and master students
Between 2007 - 2018, Dr. Kandarova held the position of Senior Scientist and General Acting Manager for EU at MatTek Corporation, USA. She established MatTek In Vitro Life Science Laboratories - an EU subsidiary of MatTek, and led the company in the position of Executive Director between 2009 - 2018.
Dr. Kandarova is an executive board member in several European toxicology oriented organisations and member of the international expert pannels. Since 2013 she acts as vice-president of the Slovak society of toxicology SETOX. In 2020 she became president of the European Society for Toxicology in Vitro ESTIV. She is co-founder and chair of the Slovak National Platform for 3Rs in science and education.
Dr. Kandarova has been involved in many international projects aiming at the validation of 3D reconstructed human tissue models for topical toxicity and phototoxicity testing of chemicals, cosmetics, pesticides and medical devices. She is a co-author of several internationally implemented testing protocols that were adopted into the OECD and ISO 10993 guidelines.
She published over 55 papers and book chapters (H-index 19, more than 1200 citations) and obtained several scientific awards related to the research aiming into the development and validation of alternative methods. The most prestigious - Doerenkamp-Zbinden Foundation Award for outstanding achievements in the field of alternatives to animal testing - has been handed over to Dr. Kandarova at the 2021 World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences in Maastricht.
https://www.helenakandarova.com/


Specialties: Topical toxicity testing: skin irritation&skin corrosion, eye irritation&corrosion, phototoxicity; assay development, optimization, validation, strategies and test guidelines development for risk and safety assessments, cosmetic and food chemistry, technical writing, design, and management of research projects.


Past positions:
Executive Director - MatTek In Vitro Life Science Laboratories
Senior Scientist - MatTek Corporation
Research associate - ZEBET at the BfR

Current Professional Organizations:
SNP3Rs - Chair
SETOX - Vice-President
ESTIV - President (2020 - 2024)
EUROTOX - Faculty
In2TOX - Establishing member
SOT - Full member (in vitro and medical devices specialty sections)

Scientific committees:
TK 102 - Medical Devices
PARERE Network - nominated national expert
EU-NETVAL member, nominated national expert
NOVS - National Committee on alternative methods - national expert
OECD expert groups on the skin and eye toxicity and phototoxicity - nominated national exper

Past:
EUROTOX Chair of the communication committee (2017-2021)
National Coordinator of the OECD TG Program - (2011 – 2013)
Slovak Society of Cosmetology (2000 – 2004) - secretary for foreign communication
EUSAAT Audit Committee (2012 - 2015) and EUSAAT Board member (2011)


Honours and Awards:
ESET Award shortlisted in the category of outstanding Slovak Scientists - 2023
Memorial Award of the Ukrainian Toxicologists - 2022
Eurotox Lecture Award - 2022
Bjorn Eckwall Memorial Award - 2022
ESTIV Congress President - 2022
Doerenkamp-Zbinden Foundation Award - 2021
L'Oreal Unesco Women in Science Slovakia - 2020 - certificate to a finalist
Lush prize - 2020 Commended project
US SOT - Best Published Paper Award 2019 - MD and CPS Section
Shortlisted for Lush Training Prize - 2018
EUROTOX 2017 Congress President
Best Overall Abstract Award 2017 - MD and CPS Section of US SOT
Invited Colgate-Palmolive In Vitro Toxicology Lecture for Students - US SOT 2014
2012 FOUR PAWS Best Poster Award - EUSAAT Congress 2012
2007 Linz Congress Best Poster Award

Fotogaléria