Latest news from the NC3Rs: May 2025

We are running a stakeholder survey as part of our work to increase confidence in the use and application of NAMs for regulatory decision making and accelerate their adoption in safety assessment. If you are involved in the development and application of replacement technologies for toxicity testing or the submission and assessment of data for regulatory decision making, tell us your priority areas and unmet needs that if addressed would facilitate the use of NAMs.

The latest edition of Tech3Rs, our dedicated newsletter for animal technicians, is now available. In this issue we re-visit two previous Tech3Rs champions as we celebrate our 20th edition of Tech3Rs and 20 years of working with technical staff to deliver 3Rs advances in animal facilities. We cover support to share your 3Rs work, alongside 3Rs papers of interest and relevant webinars to help you stay updated.

Do you have a 3Rs-focused technology in the oncology field and a collaboration opportunity to share? We are inviting researchers, clinicians, and industry professionals to present at our next Technology Partn3Ring webinar. This is your chance to share your work, connect with potential partners and help drive the uptake of 3Rs methods in oncology research. 

Wednesday 18 June, 14.00 – 15.00 (BST)
Zebrafish are commonly used in biological and biomedical research and interest in how to maintain and promote higher standards of welfare for this species continues to grow. In the first session of our upcoming welfare webinar series, Professor Robert Gerlai from the University of Toronto Mississauga will explore how optimising housing and his award-winning work on handling methods can improve both zebrafish welfare and research data quality. 

The US-based 3Rs Collaborative (3RsC) have created a 3Rs certificate course to accelerate understanding, recognition and implementation of the 3Rs. Focused on those working with research animals in North America, including students, scientists, technicians, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee members and veterinarians, the virtual, self-paced training consists of five one-hour modules and is available through training provider CITI Program.

The MRC policy on embedding diversity in research design includes the requirement to use females and males in animal studies. Sex inclusive research reduces animal use, as part of designing a robust in vivo study that produces reproducible, generalisable and meaningful results using the fewest number of animals. The MRC are running a survey to assess the impact of their diversity in research design policy on researchers and reviewers. The survey will take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete and closes on 13 June.

The 3Rs Centre Utrecht has launched a new resource to help researchers replace the use of animal-derived basement membrane extract in cell culture and organoid research. The Basement Membrane Extract-free Database includes details of a wide range of defined, animal-free matrices that support cell growth and differentiation in both 2D and 3D models.