Division of Biology and Medicine
Center for Alternatives to Animals in Testing

About Us

Faculty in the Center for Alternatives to Animals in Testing are using miniaturized human tissues to modernize toxicity and drug testing--and challenge the need for animals in research.

Our Mission

Our mission is to develop replacements for the use of animals in research and testing. Replacements based on the best science. Replacements that are cheaper and faster. Replacements that are better predictors of the safety of the chemicals in our environment that we are exposed to everyday. Replacements that are better predictors of the safety and efficacy of new drugs being developed to treat unmet medical needs.

25 million

Animals used per year in research and safety testing of drugs and chemicals

1 in 2

New drugs fail due to unanticipated human toxicity

We are motivated by the fact that: 1.) animal testing is slow, expensive and not predictive of the human response, 2.) tens of thousands of synthetic chemicals in our environment and households have not been adequately tested. 3.) government agencies around the world have begun the banning of animal testing, 4.) most new drugs fail in clinical trials due to unanticipated toxicity despite extensive testing in
animals and 5.) more physiologically relevant models are needed for the testing and discovery of new drugs.

Human 3D Microtissues

 

Investigators at the Center for Alternatives to Animals in Testing are using human 3D microtissues to modernize toxicity testing and drug discovery.

We are a collaborative and scholarly environment for research, teaching and the training of the next generation. With support from the government, industry partners and philanthropic sources, we are focused on the innovations needed to understand the fundamental characteristics of health and disease with the goal of identifying alternatives to animals in research and testing.

Center research teams are using microtissues to assess the effects of chemical exposures on brain, breast, heart, lung, ovary, and prostate cells.
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Center faculty use state-of-the-art technologies to advance scientific discovery.
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