We don’t want to make mice better but people
The transition away from animal testing is for the time being a predominantly silent revolution, but alternatives based on human tissues and mini-organs offer the prospect of acceleration. “This…
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New online database to improve environmental risk assessment of chemicals and avoid animal testing
The EnviroTox database is an international project, led by the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute and involving the JRC. This public database of ecotoxicological data brings together…
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Human iPSC-derived heart-on-a-chip technology for early drug discovery and development
A human iPSC-derived heart-on-a-chip technology can directly measure in vivo cardiac performance and it can be used to assess the effects of novel compounds on contractility early in the…
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EU citizens and industry expect ‘big reduction’ in mandatory animal testing
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the Joint Research Centre scientists have a key role to play in meeting the demand of EU citizens and industry, who want to…
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Green MEP Tilly Metz calls for EU action plan on alternatives to animal testing
All initiatives to promote alternatives to animal testing are welcome, but lawmakers should be bolder and impose some mandatory measures as well, Luxembourgish MEP Tilly Metz has said.
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The potential of organoids and kidney-on-a-chip platforms as better predictive models for drug-induced nephrotoxicity
A new review from scientists at the University of Utrecht considers how the complex nature of the kidney complicates in vitro modeling & suggests where 3D culture & organoid…
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Mice brains are too different from humans’ to model neurodevelopmental disorders
Most knowledge about how the development of the cerebellum – the brain area that receives and coordinates sensory information and our physical responses to it – comes…
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Human liver-on-a-chip predicts human toxicity better than animal studies
A new organ-on-a-chip system can predict human toxicity that was undetected in animal studies for drugs halted in clinical trials and emphasizes species-specific responses in liver toxicity.
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Time to move beyond the 3R principles
This recently published study says the time has now come to prioritise the Replacement of animals used for scientific purposes, over refinement and reduction strategies. The 21st Century has…
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Book review: Rigor mortis
Scientific research should not be attached to particular dogmas or paradigms but, on the contrary, change its methods according to the results obtained. In his book “Rigor Mortis”, the…
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