Wi3R Symposium 2024 Replace.Reduce.Refine.

The 1st International Conference of the Würzburg Initiative 3R (WI3R) took place at the Rudolf Virchow Center for Integrative and Translational Bioimaging and was organized by the Fraunhofer TLC-RT, supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) funded research clusters SFB/TRR 225 (“From the fundamentals of biofabrication towards functional tissue models”), GRK2157 (3D-Infect), SFB 1583 (Decide) and the Chair Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine (TERM) of University Hospital (UKW) and University of Würzburg, respectively as a joint event. The Fraunhofer TLC-RT as well as TERM (UKW) develop new cell based tissue models and test systems, scalable manufacture processes, prototypes and biological vascularized implants, therefore contributing to the 3R principles. The SFB/TRR 225 Collaborative Research Centre is interested in exploring the fundamentals of biofabrication and its systematic exploitation with the aim to generate functional human tissue models. This holds the possibility of automated production of functional tissue models that would be invaluable as animal test replacements, for research on new drug compounds and cancer therapy, and as option for regenerative therapy. The GRK2157 and SFB 1583 networks focus on the development of human 3D tissue models for infection research aiming to identify molecular mechanisms within the host that control the course of infectious diseases. For more information please visit the respective webpages.

Within this 1st WI3R symposium the German Research Foundation (DFG) granted the 20th anniversary of the Ursula M. Händel Animal Welfare Prize. The Ursula M. Händel Prize recognises scientists who have made exemplary and sustained efforts to improve the welfare of animals in research. In particular, this includes the development of methods that contribute to the reduction, refinement and replacement of animal experiments. The €80,000 Ursula M. Händel Animal Welfare Prize is currently the largest prize of its kind in Germany, awarded every two years. The Awardees of the Ursula M. Händel Animal Welfare Prize 2024 are Prof. Peter Loskill (W3-Professor for Organ-on-Chip-Research at the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen) and Dr. Silke Riegger (Head of the 3R-Center Business Unit for In Vitro Models and Alternatives to Animal Testing at University Tübingen).