We believe that the exploitation of animals is unethical and, in turn, we would oppose the use of animals in experimentation regardless of any benefits that such research might realize for people. But it just so happens that science is also on our side.
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. July 2024 highlights in science are below.
New Transparent ‘Blood Vessel-on-a-Chip’ Could Reduce Animal Testing
University of Sydney, 7/1/2024
“The University of Sydney team successfully created a transparent microchip with the potential to reduce the testing of new drugs to treat heart disease on animals before proceeding to human trials.”
“The innovative device mimics blood vessel damage due to high blood flow and inflammation, the first stage that leads to development of heart disease. The design offers a more accurate and detailed understanding of how and why blockages occur in specific locations in blood vessels . . . ‘If we use an animal model, we are unable to see changes at this level of detail in a living organism because you can’t see through the vessels.’”
“ . . . the vessel-on-a-chip utilizes real human cells and offers more manageable and cost-effective control in the lab [than do animal studies].” 📰 Full Story →
A Step Closer to Understanding Crohn’s Disease
Kadeja Johnson, 7/3/2024
“In a recent study, researchers at the University of Cambridge [] leveraged patient-derived intestinal stem cells to grow intestinal epithelial organoids, providing a better understanding of Crohn’s disease (CD) . . . By using organoids to model CD instead of mice models, they hope to gain more accurate insights into the cause of CD and potential advancement in treatment options for patients.”
“‘This is the first time where anyone has been able to show that stable epigenetic changes can explain what is wrong in the gut epithelium in patients with Corhn’s disease,’….” 📰 Full Story →
Brain Organoids: A Fascinating and Powerful Tool for Drug Discovery
Dr. Francesca Cavallo, 7/5/2024
“Human brain organoids are complex in vitro tools derived from stem cells designed to model the molecular basis of neurodevelopment and the pathogenesis of neurological disorders.”
“Since brain organoids can be derived from either diseased or healthy patients, they can recapitulate human (patho)physiology making them a better choice compared to mammalian cell systems that often fail to recapitulate the human phenotype.”
“ . . . brain organoids represent a reliable model for drug screening purposes” and “are an ethical alternative to animal models.” 📰 Full Story →
First Organoid Derived from Meningioma Patients’ Cells Developed in Korea
You Ji-young, 7/10/2024
“An organoid model using cells from meningioma patients has been developed for the first time in Korea….”
“Meningiomas are the most common type of brain tumor . . . this study is expected to be an important step in developing new treatments.”
“‘Our new meningioma organoids overcome the limitations of previous meningioma models and closely resemble real brain tumors, which will be useful in research to identify and select drugs for meningioma in the era of precision medicine,’….” 📰 Full Story →
From Palantir to Methane-Hunting to Organoids: Why This Tech Vet is Building a Lights-Out Lab to Make Drug Discovery More Like Software Development
Brian Buntz, 7/11/2024
“At Parallel Bio, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech startup founded in 2021, researchers are developing a platform that replicates the human immune system in a dish for drug discovery and development. The company aims to flip the pharma industry’s high failure rate ‘on its head,’ where the industry can succeed more often than it fails.”
“The pharma industry . . . faces a fundamental challenge: inefficiency . . . Animal models compound the problem. ‘Organoids have the potential to really change the entire pipeline structure in pharma because you get to do much earlier testing in very high fidelity, what are essentially human models,’ . . . ‘They’re not actual humans, but they behave much more like humans than an animal model would.’” 📰 Full Story →
Mini-Retinas Model Human Disease in a Dish
Rachel Moeller Gorman, 7/16/2024
“ . . . [A]nimal models and cell cultures [used] to investigate the retina . . . were disappointingly inadequate . . . animal models did not accurately represent retinal anatomy and human disease pathogenesis.”
“‘[Now, retinal organoids] are at a stage where they have begun to be common practice in our field. Many labs are routinely using them for disease modeling,’….”
“In addition to disease modeling and drug screening, the other long-term goal for retinal organoid research is developing retinal transplants for people who have severe retinal degeneration and have lost their sight.” 📰 Full Story →
Researchers Develop ‘Organ on a Chip’ for Better Drug Testing
Alex Parrish, 7/18/2024
“There is a growing call to phase out animal testing, partly because of the difference in animal and human biology. Simply put, just because something works for mice doesn’t mean it will work for a human being.”
“A group of academic researchers across institutions have joined forces . . . to find a solution that could give human-oriented results with synthetic tools. Their approach requires no human subjects or animals. Instead, it uses new technologies to create testing environments that are highly customizable. Drugs can be tested with cells, not creatures.” 📰 Full Story →
Lab-Grown Human Neuron Assembloids Effectively Model Synaptic Plasticity
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 7/19/2024
“The ability to study human neurological systems depends on having viable, accurate models of brain function. St. Jude researchers have now created a model for such research by combining thalamic cells and cortical cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells.”
“The new human model was successfully validated against established animal models, demonstrating species differences in underlying mechanisms and emphasizing the importance of accurate human models.” 📰 Full Story →
Unilever, Clariant and Vantage Pioneer Next-Gen Chemical Safety for Reducing Animal Testing Under REACH
Venya Patel, 7/22/2024
“Unilever, Clariant, Vantage and Environmental Resources Management researchers present a new method for testing the safety of chemicals to ensure that animals are used as a ‘last resort.’ The industry is seeking solutions at the EU’s behest.”
“The study’s NGRA framework [“an exposure-driven methodology that uses new approach methodologies (NAMs) to improve safety decision-making processes”] is presented as an alternative to traditional occupational safety assessments. By focusing on human-relevant data and advanced modeling techniques, it [sic] believes this is a safer and more ethical approach to managing chemical exposure in the workplace” that “provides a more refined safety assessment, reduces reliance on animal testing and allows for better risk management catered to workplace conditions.”
“The paper indicates that the traditional approach to occupational safety is heavily criticized for its ethical concerns, high cost, time commitment and questionable relevance to human health.” 📰 Full Story →
Organoids Mimicking Celiac Disease Show New Link Between Gluten, Intestinal Damage
Krista Conger, 7/24/2024
“Small, laboratory-grown balls of cells made from the intestinal tissue of people with celiac disease have revealed a previously unknown molecular link between gluten exposure and intestinal damage….”
“The study is the first to describe the use of clumps of cells maintained in a laboratory dish, called organoids, to study autoimmune disease….:
“The organoids open the door to understanding how different cell types interact in people with the disorder, characterized by an acute sensitivity to gluten, in ways that haven’t previously been possible . . . ‘These organoids provide an accurate reproduction of what happens in people with celiac disease,’ . . . ‘now we can probe what’s happening in a dish – learning about the disease, developing new drugs and maybe even predicting what drugs will work best for individuals. This has not been possible before.’” 📰 Full Story →
Lab-Grown Diabetic Vessels Give New Insights
Queen’s University Belfast, 7/27/2024
“A team of researchers from Queen’s University Belfast has successfully grown a mini version of human blood vessels from people with diabetes.”
“This breakthrough advances research of the disease by providing a new way for scientists to study how diabetes impacts blood vessels, potentially leading to the development of new treatments . . . These advancements are hoped to have a profound impact on the quality of life for people with diabetes….” 📰 Full Story →