Tony Kiuru (UPM Biomedicals)
Tony Kiuru discusses GrowDex, which is an animal free, ready to use hydrogel that mimics the extracellular matrix (ECM) and supports cell growth and differentiation with consistent results. Bridging the gap between in vitro and in vivo studies GrowDex can be used for 3D cell culture for spheroid and /organoids, in personalised medicine, regenerative medicine, organ-on-a-chip models, drug release studies, 3D printing and much more. GrowDex hydrogel is manufactured according to ISO13485. You can find more information about GrowDex at https://www.upmbiomedicals.com/siteassets/documents/growdex-brochure-2018.pdf and https://www.linkedin.com/company/growdex/ . General email address: biomedicals@upm.com.
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Expert interviews
HealthInnovationIn vitro
Janny van den Eijnden-van Raaij (hDMT consortium)
The Institute for human Organ and Disease Model technologies (hDMT) is a precompetitive non-profit technological R&D institute, initiated in the Netherlands. hDMT integrates state-of-the-art human stem cell technologies with top level engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, clinical and pharmaceutical expertise from academia and industry to develop and valorize human organ and disease models-on-a-chip. More information on: www.hdmt.technology , www.h2020-orchid.eu , and www.euroocs.eu .
Expert interviews
HealthInnovation
Elly Hol (UMC Utrecht): possibilities for neuroscience
Prof. dr. Elly Hol (neuroscientist) talks about the opportunities for conducting animal-free research in Utrecht. She explains why it is necessary to use animal models next to cell-based models, for example for her Alzheimer research. More info at https://www.umcutrecht.nl/en/research/center/brain-center , http://translationalneuroscience.nl , http://www.ellyhollab.eu .
Expert interviews
ToxicologyIn vitro
Erwin Roggen (ToxGenSolutions)
ToxGenSolutions provides a cutting-edge patchwork of test methods required for modern testing and assessment of compounds and products. It builds on a virtual generic platform of leading test and technology developers providing novel technologies addressing key events in outcome pathways. ToxGenSolutions products are proprietary mechanism-based gene signatures for identification and classification of toxicants during screening, product development and safety assessment. More information on https://toxgensolutions.eu/ .
Expert interviews
HealthToxicology
Kirsten Baken (VITO)
Kirsten Baken (VITO, www.vito.be) discusses biomonitoring as part of the HBM4EU project (www.hbm4eu.eu). An example of the use of human biomarkers can be found at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935119302658 .
New
Various subjects
InnovationPolicy
TPI.tv: improving science through animal-free innovations and research
Introducing TPI.tv : a video platform by experts striving to improve science through animal-free innovations and research.
Expert interviews
HealthInnovation
Elly Hol (UMC Utrecht): possibilities for neuroscience
Prof. dr. Elly Hol (neuroscientist) talks about the opportunities for conducting animal-free research in Utrecht. She explains why it is necessary to use animal models next to cell-based models, for example for her Alzheimer research. More info at https://www.umcutrecht.nl/en/research/center/brain-center , http://translationalneuroscience.nl , http://www.ellyhollab.eu .
Innovation examples
HealthInnovation
Katja Wolthers (Amsterdam UMC) - virus research in human models: let's show some guts!
To study viruses that make people sick, we often use laboratory animals. However, virus infections in animals are different than in humans. New 3D culture models or 'organoids', which look like human organs in a petri dish, offer a unique opportunity to investigate how viruses enter the human body and cause disease. Our research focuses on enteroviruses such as polio. Due to vaccination, polio is rare, but other enteroviruses are increasingly a threat to young children and patients with impaired immune defenses. There are no medications available, because knowledge about infections with enteroviruses is limited. In our research we use organoids to see how enteroviruses enter the human body and by which means you can prevent that, without the use of laboratory animals. With this project we want to show that our technique can replace the use of laboratory animals in virus research.
Meeting videos
HelpathonsHealth
Helpathon #4 - can you help Frank?
Can you help Frank with integrating an immune system into a macaque lung organoid to address local immunity to tuberculosis with his vaccination strategy?
Join Helpathon #4, look at www.tpihelpathon.nl/coming-up !
Frank Verreck does research on tuberculosis at the Biomedical Primate Research Center (BPRC). Tuberculosis is the most deadly infectious disease worldwide! For the past hundred years, BCG (Bacillus Calmette Guérin) vaccinations take place through the skin. Research shows that macaques can be better protected from this infection by vaccination through their lungs. Frank really wants to further study the potential of this alternative vaccination strategy. He wants to understand how this BCG vaccination works in macaques lungs.