Research and Methods

Research Groups

Below you will find an overview of research groups (working groups) which deal with the development of animal-free methods or prefer to use them.

On the one hand, this gives students an opportunity to contact the appropriate contact person when looking for thesis assignments and internships. We encourage people to inform themselves in detail and learn about the research contents of the relevant institution before contacting. Normally, the working groups’ websites provide a good insight.

On the other hand, we would like to provide an overview of working groups which use or even develop animal-free methods. This is also intended to facilitate networking between the working groups and ultimately provide a building block to help promote towards research on animal-free methods – advanced and ethically justifiable research.

We aim to update the list regularly and would be glad if further working groups were interested to be included in our list. If you are interested, please send us your data via e-mail to info[at]invitrojobs.com, or use our contact form.

One entry can come under consideration for several categories:

  • Toxicology: includes ecotoxicology and drug screening
  • Tissue engineering: inclusive (single) cell cultures and lab-on-a-chip developments
  • Disease research: fundamental or applied research on cancer, Parkinson’s disease etc.
  • Anatomy: includes cell and development biology
  • Immunology: includes research on and development of antibodies and vaccines
  • Organ research: for instance blood vessels, liver, kidneys etc.
  • Education: includes postgraduate training
  • In silico methods: this category includes imaging procedures
  • Miscellaneous: This encompasses patient studies or other R & D work not included elsewhere

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InVitroJobs presents scientists and their innovative research in a regular feature called “Working Group – a Portrait”. We focus on newly developed methods, their evaluation and their potential for reducing and where possible replacing animal experimentation according to the 3R principles of Russel & Burch (reduce, refine, replace).

In this article we present an institute that researches the retention of organic substances in the environment and their evaluation. Head of the institute is the chemist Prof. Dr. Klaus Kümmerer. His research foci are sustainable chemistry, material resources and trace elements in the aquatic environment. Prof. Kümmerer looks for new properties for pharmaceuticals, with the goal of making them degradable in rivers and lakes. To this end the institute employs computer-based methods. A staff member also has the task of modelling and evaluating the global dispersion of harmful substances.

Working Group – a Portrait: ACTO e.V.

Wednesday, 23 July 2014 13:16

InVitroJobs presents scientists and their innovative research in a regular feature called “Working Group – a Portrait”. We focus on newly developed methods, their evaluation and their potential for reducing and where possible replacing animal experimentation according to the 3R principles of Russel & Burch (reduce, refine, replace).

In our current portrait we present the Aachen Centrum of Technology Transfer in Ophthalmology (ACTO). We describe a particular method of ACTO, the Ex Vivo Eye Irritation Test (EVEIT). The method provides - similar to the Bovine Corneal Opacity / Permeability Assay (BCOP) - an animal-free alternative to the Draize eye irritation test on living rabbits.