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Pioneering better science: Alternatives to animals
Using new and advanced technologies, scientists today have more ways to study human biology, health and disease without using animals than ever before. A mainstay of the NC3Rs public engagement programme, we are returning to the annual Pint of Science festival this year to showcase the latest innovations in replacement approaches and explore the future of alternatives to animal research.
Join us and NC3Rs-funded scientists working at Newcastle University to learn about bioprinting 3D cell models of human tissues and using donated human heart tissue to investigate cardiac disease, and how these pioneering approaches are replacing animals in research.
Can you 3D print human tissues?
Professor Kenny Dalgarno, Professor of Manufacturing Engineering
Imagine a 3D printer that combines living cells with biomaterials. Scientists use 'bioprinters' to create 3D cell-based models of how human tissues are built and behave. Learn about a state-of-the-art system with the potential to replace up to 1,000 mice a year to predict drug responses in medicines development at Newcastle University. Kenny Dalgarno is sharing the technology with scientists across the country to replace animals in other areas of research – from leukaemia and liver cancer to blood and bone biology.
Learn more about Kenny’s non-animal methods infrastructure award: Novel bioprinters for 3D in vitro models.
Heart disease: From donors to discoveries
Rebecca Conway, PhD student
Donated human organs and tissues are a valuable resource for scientists. Rebecca Conway uses human heart tissue to better understand how heart disease develops and is working towards the ability to test new treatments without animals. Learn more about how Rebecca keeps heart tissue alive in the lab and studies cardiac disease in a dish. Her approach could replace up to 2,500 mice a year at Newcastle University – with tens of thousands of animals used in similar research across the UK the replacement potential of this technology is huge!
Learn more about Rebecca’s work on an NC3Rs PhD studentship with Dr Lee Borthwick: A novel ex vivo approach to target identification and validation for cardiac fibrosis.
Other NC3Rs Pint of Science events
Bristol, Tuesday 19 May
Hear from scientists at the University of Bristol about using organoids and insects to replace in studies of human disease and the development of new drugs.
London (UCL), Wednesday 20 May
Explore work at London universities to replace animals with digital recreations of human brain cells and cell-based models of the human gut.