It should be noted that both of these assays are approved only for identification of materials causing severe or corrosive eye injury. If materials are not identified as such in the in vitro assay, they then must be tested in the traditional rabbit test to prove that they are not severe or corrosive. Thus this approval is only the first step towards having a non-animal process that can completely replace the animal test for eye irritation.

Dr. Bradlaw spent the majority of her scientific career with the US Food and Drug Administration where she was active in several in vitro areas including In Vitro Toxicology, Genetic Toxicology, Cell and Tissue Culture practices, and standardization of cells used in Tissue Engineered Products. Throughout her career she was very proactive in providing her colleagues with expert advice on matters relating to cell culture methodology and their application in testing. She retired from the FDA as Acting Chief of the In Vitro Toxicology Branch in 1999 after 41 years of service.

Dr. Bradlaw served as Associate Professor of Microbiology at the George Washington School of Medicine from 1981 - 1985. Over the years she received many awards relating to her work in the in vitro area. These include: the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB), the Distinguished Service Award from SIVB, several FDA Group Recognition Awards (one for her work in IRAG), and the FDA Commendable Service Award. June has authored over 50 articles on cell culture methods, in vitro toxicology or genetic toxicology.

Most recently, Dr. Bradlaw served as the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) for the International Foundation for Ethical Research (IFER) and as Science Advisor to the National Anti-Vivisection Society. For the last several years she has represented IFER as a judge at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta, Georgia.

June was always a strong advocate for in vitro toxicology; not only during her long tenure at the FDA (much of which was during a period when in vitro methods were not commonly embraced), but also in her "retirement" as she continued to tirelessly support in vitro methods with scientists and the general public around the world.

One of her most important accomplishments was helping to organize and co-chair the 1993 IRAG workshop on alternatives to the Draize eye irritation test. For the first time, scientists from laboratories throughout the world came together to share data on the performance of over 30 in vitro methods to detect eye irritants. It was at this meeting that many researchers began to understand not only in vitro methods, but also the performance of the Draize test itself - and it was a revelation to many that "gold-standard" animal eye test might not be a shiny as once thought. June continued to put in long hours after the workshop to ensure that all the data were put into assay-specific manuscripts and then published in a single issue of Food and Chemical Toxicology - a reference that many of us still use!

We will all miss her dedication and perseverance, but we all have gained very much for knowing her. Thanks for everything, June.