This year, the animal rights organization Doctors Against Animal Experiments (ÄgT) has awarded Dr. Pedro Caetano Pinto from Greifswald University Hospital the Herbert Stiller Prize for outstanding animal-free research. Dr. Pinto receives the prize, worth €20,000, for his innovative project in which a human bladder-on-a-chip model was developed for research into bladder cancer. 

Birds are often overlooked as laboratory animals because they are not used as frequently in experiments as mice, fish, or rats. Nevertheless, many different bird species have to suffer in animal experiments. 

The EU Joint Research Center (JRC) is assembling a multidisciplinary group of experts to critically evaluate the current use of animal models as well as the integration of animal-free approaches in cardiovascular research. The work will enable a comprehensive assessment of the scientific, ethical, and practical dimensions of replacing and reducing the use of laboratory animals in this field.

The American company Charles River Laboratories International as well as the Dutch biotechnology company Toxys recently announced their intention to collaborate on the validation of the human stem cell-based in vitro assay ReproTracker. The assay can be used to quickly and reliably identify developmental toxicity risks in new drugs and chemicals without the use of animal testing.