The UK Invests in Non-Animal Research Methods

An important but underacknowledged barrier to reducing and replacing the use of animals in research and testing is that few researchers are trained in how to use non-animal methodologies. To help address this gap, the Queen Mary University of London recently launched the new Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Organ-on-a-Chip Technology. Organs-on-a-chip are lab-grown, three-dimensional miniature organs that can be used instead of animals to study medicines and diseases. (See AWI Quarterly, spring 2020.) Over the next eight years, through a grant from the UK government’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the center will train 60 PhD students to join a new generation of scientific experts in the use of organ-on-a-chip technology. To complement the training center, the university also launched one of Europe’s “largest and most advanced” organ-on-a-chip facilities to accelerate the development and adoption of this cutting-edge technology. 

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