While the animal research industry continues to breed, buy, cage, torture, and kill sentient beings, progressive scientists are busy proving that human-relevant science is not only possible but, in fact, better for us all. Highlights in science from the last month are below.  

Mini-tumors from circulating breast cancer cells offer new treatment insights

German Cancer Research Center, Medical Xpress, 1/3/2025

“Tumor cells circulating in the blood are the germ cells of breast cancer metastases. They are very rare and have not been propagated in the culture dish until now, which made research into therapy resistance difficult. A team from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the Heidelberg Stem Cell Institute HI-STEM and the NCT Heidelberg has now succeeded for the first time in cultivating stable tumor organoids directly from blood samples of breast cancer patients. Using these mini-tumors, the researchers were able to decipher a molecular signaling pathway that ensures the cancer cells’ survival and resistance to therapy. With this knowledge, the team was able to develop an approach to specifically eliminate these tumor cells in lab experiments.”  📰 Full Story →

Alternatives to Animal Testing: A Tech Run-Down

David Wild, Citeline Commercial, 1/6/2025

“New alternative methods to animal testing in early drug development are increasing in sophistication and predictability, yet they are vastly underutilized.”

“‘There are many new papers coming out showing these non-animal methods consistently predict human response better than animal models,’ . . . ‘There are definitely areas where these methods can go ahead and replace animal testing.’”  📰 Full Story →

Researchers advance bone tissue engineering with 3D printing

Edward Wakefield, VoxelMatters, 1/6/2025

“According to the University of Manchester, researchers . . . are advancing bone tissue engineering through 3D printing. Their method aims to reduce animal testing and yield more controlled conditions for studying how breast cancer spreads to bone.”

“Bones have intricate structures that help us understand cancer’s tendency to metastasize to bone. Traditionally, researchers relied on animal models, but this new approach merges 3D printing with stem cells to create realistic lab-grown bone models. ‘We’re essentially creating a “bone in a dish” using 3D printing technology.’”  📰 Full Story →

World’s First Drug Candidate developed by Organoid and AI Doses First Patient in Phase 1 Study for first Diffusive Gastric Cancer Targeted Therapy

Signet Therapeutics, businesswire, 1/14/2025

“Signet Therapeutics [], a clinical-stage biotech company leveraging organoids and AI to develop first-in-class cancer therapies, today announced that the first patient has been dosed in the Phase I clinical trial in China for its lead candidate, SIGX1094, for the treatment of diffuse gastric cancer (DGC) and other advanced solid tumors. This marks a significant milestone as SIGX1094 is the first pipeline drug discovered using AI and organoid disease model to enter clinical trials, and the first targeted therapy candidate to address the unmet clinical needs in DGC.”  📰 Full Story →

Brain organoids for advancing neurological research

ACROBiosystems, News Medical Life Sciences, 1/17/2025

“Neurological illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease [] and Parkinson’s disease [] have long been difficult to study due to their complex pathophysiology and lack of effective therapies. Traditional research methodologies, such as animal models and two-dimensional cell cultures, frequently fail to represent disease complexity. The emergence of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and 3D brain organoid technologies has resulted in very biomimetic human brain tissue models.”

“Brain organoids simulate complex neuronal settings, not only replicating pathological changes in disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s but also providing precise instruments for gene therapy and drug evaluation.”  📰 Full Story →

‘Stroke-on-a-chip’ model to replace animal testing

University of Strathclyde, healthcare-in-europe.com, 1/21/2025

“The University of Strathclyde has been awarded £100,000 . . . to help develop a human ‘stroke-on-a-chip’ model to replace animal testing in research.”

“Thousands of prospective drugs have shown neuroprotective effects in animal stroke models but have failed in clinical trials. The humanised microfluidics [of “Strathcylde’s bespoke stroke-on-a-chip model”] addresses this gap by better mimicking human pathophysiology, offering the dual benefit of sparing animal lives and improving the predictive value of preclinical stroke research.”  📰 Full Story →

New AI software could speed up drug development

University of Konstanz, News Medical Life Sciences, 1/23/2025

“[AI-supported image analysis software] EmbryoNet provides a fast, cost-effective and high-precision evaluation of a substance’s effect on the development of biological systems. Negative effects, such as visible developmental defects are automatically detected and linked to the corresponding signalling pathway. EmbryoNet even surpasses human experts in accuracy.”

“As EmbryoNet is completely automated, pharmaceutical companies could fully integrate the platform into their research pipelines. They could use EmbryoNet, for example, to simultaneously test hundreds of substances in a high-throughput process for their effects on or risks for specific organs or developmental processes – without having to complete lengthy studies involving a large number of test animals for each individual substance. EmbryoNet also provides information on the mechanisms of how potential new drugs work. ‘In the longer term, EmbryoNet could then replace a large number of animal experiments in drug research and, through automation, speed up conventional processes immensely while reducing costs significantly’….”.  📰 Full Story →

A Missing Link Between Concussion and Alzheimer’s

Katharine Gammon, Nautilus, 1/27/2025

“One of the challenges in getting to the roots of dementia is that humans lead complex, messy lives. In the soup of risk factors—from high blood pressure to loneliness to genetic inheritance—it can be hard to filter out the most impactful forces that have contributed to the onset of any one dementia case. There are no ethical ways to test these questions on humans, of course, while using lab animals presents its own ethical and cost challenges. Animals are never a perfect match for humans anyway, and dementia-related findings in animals have so far not translated well to human patients. Enter the organoids.”

“In lab-grown brain organoids, scientists have been able to model some of the same hallmarks of neurodegenerative disease . . . ‘We think what we found in the 3-D Model applies in the living brain,’….”  📰 Full Story →

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