Oxfordshire Researcher Wins Tools to Replace Cruel Animal Tests

For Immediate Release:

4 December 2018

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 222; [email protected]

OXFORDSHIRE RESEARCHER WINS TOOLS TO REPLACE CRUEL ANIMAL TESTS

Dr Chang Guo Is One of Three Winners to Receive Free 3-D Lung Tissues From PETA International Science Consortium and Epithelix Sàrl

Didcot, Oxfordshire – The PETA International Science Consortium Ltd. and Epithelix Sàrl are pleased to award Dr Chang Guo (of Public Health England) free 3-D tissue models that will be used for nanomaterial toxicity testing to assess the effect of substances on the human respiratory tract. Dr Chang Guo and the other two contest winners were chosen based on their proposals’ scientific merit and potential to use the tissues to replace animals in inhalation testing.

The first-place winner of the Epithelix Sàrl contest, Kristine Nishida of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, will receive Epithelix tissues valued at almost £4,000 and will use them to study the health effects of inhaling cigarette smoke. Dr Chang Guo and the other second-place winner, Dr Richard Gminski of the University of Freiburg, Germany, who will evaluate the efficacy of drugs on antibiotic-resistant bacteria, will each receive tissues valued at almost £2,000.

Manufactured by Swiss-based biotechnology company Epithelix, these easy-to-use tissues mimic different areas of the respiratory tract. Epithelix 3-D tissues, MucilAir^TM or SmallAir^TM, can be exposed to test substances in ways that mimic realistic human exposure and can be used to test cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, pesticides, household products, cigarette smoke, and viruses without using animals. In the animal tests these tissues can replace, rats are confined in narrow tubes and forced to inhale toxic substances for hours on end before they’re killed.

“I warmly thank all the researchers who submitted their proposals, they were all just excellent!” says Epithelix COO and co-founder Dr Samuel Constant. “Epithelix is honored to contribute to accelerate adoption of in vitro methods in the respiratory field.”

“With excellent proposals from all over the world, it was difficult to limit the number of winners,” says Consortium Director Dr Amy Clippinger. “However, these three proposals show great promise for replacing tests on animals, and we look forward to seeing the results of their use of this cutting-edge technology.”

The contest is just one of the many efforts by the Consortium to replace inhalation testing in animals, including hosting webinars and workshops, funding the development of animal-free methods, donating essential testing equipment, and more.

The PETA International Science Consortium Ltd. works to accelerate the development, validation, and global implementation of animal-free testing. It was established in 2012 to coordinate the scientific and regulatory expertise of its members – PETA, PETA US, PETA Germany, PETA India, PETA Netherlands, PETA France, PETA Asia, and PETA Australia. The Consortium and its members have donated millions of dollars towards helping to reduce and replace animal use.

Epithelix Sàrl is a biotechnology company dedicated to providing in vitro solutions to evaluating the effects of drugs in development and assessing the toxicity of chemical compounds on the human respiratory tract. Founded in 2006, Epithelix is Europe’s leading provider of in vitro reconstituted human respiratory tissues and has won numerous national and international awards.

For more information, please visit PISCLtd.org.uk or Epithelix.com.

#