Helena Hogberg joins NICEATM

On December 6, Helena Hogberg joined NICEATM as a staff scientist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Hogberg will conduct research drawing on her broad expertise in applying in vitro methods to assess developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) potential of chemicals.

Hogberg received her Ph.D. in toxicology from Stockholm University and performed her doctoral research at the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods in Ispra, Italy. She developed new in vitro approaches to detect chemicals with DNT potential, focusing on gene expression and electrical activity recordings. During a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT), Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School for Public Health, Hogberg explored the application of a broader set of in vitro models to DNT, including organotypic models, induced pluripotent stem cells, and transcriptomics and metabolomics approaches. After completing her fellowship, she was appointed as a research associate and later deputy director of CAAT. In these roles Hogberg administered a variety of CAAT programs and research activities and continued her own research on DNT.

Hogberg currently serves on the DNT expert group of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Scientific Advisory Panel for the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act; the EPA expert group on new approach methodologies (NAMs) for DNT assessment; and the Scientific Advisory Board for the European Commission-funded Horizon 2020 grant, “Novel Testing Strategies for Endocrine Disruptors in the Context of Developmental NeuroToxicity (ENDpoiNTs).”