Stewart Owen - AstraZeneca

I am an environmental toxicologist and the AstraZeneca global lead for the development of innovative science to support future environmental risk assessments and secure the environmental safety (eco-toxicology) of pharmaceuticals; fundamental for sustainability.

As a comparative physiologist and expert fish biologist, I lead the mode-of-action driven investigations that provide a mechanistic understanding of how human pharmaceuticals may work in animals so as to better predict the possible risks to wildlife.

I am passionate about research to drive the aquatic safety testing paradigm away from animal studies. I do this by investigating new alternative approaches such as using cells to build 3D organoid tissues in culture. At AstraZeneca I am the global lead for the 3Rs (reduction, replacement and refinement) of animal studies and I am proud to chair the prestigious AstraZeneca awards that help share the innovation from these teams.

I am privileged to work with some of the leading academics and opinion formers in my field and have published more than 65 scientific papers. I work extensively supporting early career scientists and I am an Honorary Associate Professor in the College of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Exeter. In 2021 I joined the independent Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee for the UK Government, bringing expertise in New Approach Methods to support future chemical assessments.

By collaborating with some of the best scientists and leaders in academia, regulators and industry I am working towards finding better ways to predict the potential impacts of chemicals in the environment.

Stewart Owen Principal Environmental Scientist

Hon Associate Professor, University of Exeter.

Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee (HSAC)

Independent Member of UK Government Defra Advisory

AstraZeneca Council for Science and Animal Welfare

2021

Invited to join the UK Government Defra Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee (HSAC) to share expertise in New Approach Methods to support future chemical assessments.

2021

Published a book chapter on how to use artificial intelligence and machine learning innovations to better protect the environment from chemicals.

2020

‘Prioritisation and Risk Evaluation of Medicines in the EnviRonment (PREMIER)’, a European Union Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Joint Undertaking where I act as an industry lead and designated Ethics Officer.

2020

Invited to give the Beito Lecture at the Norsk Selskap for Farmakologi og Toksikologi. Beitostølen, Norway. Beitoforelesningen 2020 ‘Using fish cells to build micro-organs that help us better understand the risk of pharmaceuticals in the environment.’

2019

With academic partners at University of Exeter, published consumption-based environmental risk assessments for 130 active pharmaceutical ingredients across Europe, Even with worse case environmental exposure assessments, risks were restricted to seven drugs.

2019

Published the first machine learning predictions of bioconcentration of chemicals in fish and invertebrates with academic partners at Kings College London.

Featured publications

Chapter 11 by Owen & Snape in: The Era of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Science in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Academic Press, 2021, Pages 217-235, ISBN 9780128200452.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012820045200012X

Marmon et al., 2021 Environment International 146, 106222

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020321772

Rivetti et al., 2020 Toxicology in Vitro 62, 104692

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0887233319304722

Margiotta-Casaluci et al., 2019 Frontiers in pharmacology 10, 893

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2019.00893/full

Gunnarsson et al., 2019 Environment International 129, 320-332

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019309493

Miller et al., 2019 Science of The Total Environment 648, 80-89

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969718330869

Miller et al., 2018 Environmental science & technology 52 (22), 12953

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.8b05382

Miller et al., 2018 Environmental Pollution 239, 129-146

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749117352375

Chang et al., 2018 Environmental science & technology 53 (3), 1576-1584

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.8b04394

Verbruggen et al., 2018 Nucleic acids research 46 (D1), D930-D936

https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/46/D1/D930/4616868

Hon Associate Professor, University of Exeter.

Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee (HSAC)

AstraZeneca Council for Science and Animal Welfare

Featured publications

Beyond the patient: Advanced techniques to help predict the fate and effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment.

Pharmacology-informed prediction of the risk posed to fish by mixtures of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in the environment.

Vision of a near future: Bridging the human health–environment divide. Toward an integrated strategy to understand mechanisms across species for chemical safety assessment.

Testing the translational power of the zebrafish: an interspecies analysis of responses to cardiovascular drugs.

Pharmacology beyond the patient–The environmental risks of human drugs.

Prediction of bioconcentration factors in fish and invertebrates using machine learning.

Machine learning for environmental toxicology: a call for integration and innovation.

A review of the pharmaceutical exposome in aquatic fauna.

The Use of Molecular Descriptors To Model Pharmaceutical Uptake by a Fish Primary Gill Cell Culture Epithelium.

ECOdrug: a database connecting drugs and conservation of their targets across species.