Educational efforts within the field of replacing animal experiments

The starting point for the Center’s long-term work on Replacement was a workshop on modern animal-free methods in regulatory risk assessment in 2019. Then, the 3Rs Center’s roadmap for Replace work was outlined together with stakeholders such as researchers, government agencies, funders and the industry. A national network was formalised and today it has 400 members. Further on, the network also established itself as an informal group at LinkedIn. During the pandemic the network was a true source for ideas to digital events – regarding both subjects and presenters.

Workshops, seminars and webinars

In 2022, we held a practical workshop on animal-free cell models on site at Lund University. The participants were invited to visit the labs and try hands-on in vitro techniques themselves. This was highly appreciated.

At the beginning of this year, we welcomed researchers and other stakeholders with an interest in neuroscience to our seminar on non-animal methods for studying the human brain. Some of the voices from the evaluation afterwards:

— I made new connections and I learned new facts - not only about current top research, but also details about regulations such as the FDA Modernization Act.

— I appreciated the possibility to meet several types of stakeholders, scientists as well as industry.

In total, we have organised 15 shorter webinars on subjects such as cell modelling in organoids and organs-on-chip, computer models and AI, systematic reviews, non-animal derived antibodies, animal-free cell cultivation, 3Rs projects funded by the Swedish Research Council, evaluation and formal validation of new test methods, and more.

We have also been part of national and international events, both as organisers and as presenters.

Over the years, we have had meetings with the Swedish animal welfare bodies about replacement and how to support them in their work.