Governance gaps in neural organoids, Defined contexts-of-use for OOC, Nature Collection on Microfluidic advances, Organoids & OOC for infectious disease, and more

News on non-animal methods

MAY 18 - 22, 2026

Pro Anima > Actualités > Blogs > Non Animal methods > News on non-animal methods - MAY 18 - 22, 2026

Governance gaps in neural organoids, Defined contexts-of-use for OOC, Nature Collection on Microfluidic advances, Organoids & OOC for infectious disease, and more

NEWS, REPORTS & POSITION STATEMENTS

1. Nuffield Council on Bioethics calls for stronger governance of neural organoids

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics (NCOB), a UK-based independent charitable body, has published proposals to address governance gaps in neural organoid research, calling for best practice guidance in the short term and a new approach to regulation of emerging biotechnologies in the longer term. As an immediate step, the NCOB recommends that an interdisciplinary alliance of stakeholders, including tissue banks, research funders and regulators, work together to develop best practice guidance.

“Guidance proposed by the Working Group will help fill an immediate governance gap, giving greater clarity to individuals involved in this research and helping reassure the public that neural organoid research operates within agreed ethical parameters and safeguards.” said Professor Emily Jackson, Chair of NCOB’s Working Group on neural organoids and Professor of Law at London School of Economics and Political Science.

Read more & download the report

2. From concept to context-of-use: A framework for Organ-on-Chip development

Despite rapid technological progress, broader adoption of OoC (Organ-on-Chip) systems as predictive NAMs remains limited. A major challenge is the absence of structured development strategies that address biological complexity, technical variability, and clearly defined Contexts-of-Use (CoU). Many academic OoC platforms are developed as proof-of-concept systems, with little focus given to performance accuracy and data robustness, which limits reproducibility and regulatory confidence in the final device.

In a recent article, Nuno Araújo-Gomes from hDMT (Institute for Human Organ and Disease Model Technologies) et al. proposed a structured OoC development workflow, based on an established engineering product development framework, adapted to the specific needs of OoC technologies. The approach allows developers to integrate biological rationale, end-user and regulatory requirements, standards, and qualification criteria from early development stages.

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3. Generative AI to significantly reduce the number of animal experiments

Researchers at Goethe University and Philipps University Marburg, in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology ITMP, have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce animal experiments.

The AI, called genESOM, was trained to “learn” the structure of small datasets. It uses this learned information to generate new data points. These data points reproduce the properties of experimentally collected data as accurately as if they had been obtained in laboratory experiments. In the future, genESOM could reduce the number of laboratory animals needed for testing new active substances by between 30% and 50%.

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TOOLS, PLATFORMS, CALLS

4. A special issue on the applicability of NAMs to skin sensitization

Skin sensitization is a key endpoint within the safety assessment framework that needs to be addressed prior to launching finished products for consumer use. The complex skin sensitization adverse outcome pathway can be investigated using sophisticated testing strategies based on New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) of various levels of complexity.

A new Special Issue inToxics MDPI focuses on how NAMs are practically used in regulatory and non-regulatory applications, addressing skin sensitization as a safety concern. Guest edited by Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS) Toxicologists Gertrude-Emilia Costin and Argel Islas-Robles, it aims to foster scientific exchange and collaboration around the development, application, and regulatory implementation of NAMs for skin sensitization assessment across sectors and regions.

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026

Read more & submit your manuscript

5. New Nature Portfolio cross-journal collection on microfluidic advances

Microfluidics is driving a new era of innovation in biosensing, biofabrication, and microscale chemical and biochemical processing. A new Collection on Nature Portfolio welcomes submissions in areas including: Wearable microfluidics, biofluid handling, and point-of-care biosensing; 3D bioprinting, biofabrication, tissue engineering, and advanced biomaterials; Droplet-based microfluidics and high-throughput screening platforms; Microscale biochemical processing, reaction engineering, and next-generation microreactors.

This collection is a collaboration between Nature Communications, Nature Sensors, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Communications Engineering, and npj Biomedical Innovations.

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 27 January 2027

Read more & submit your proposal

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INDUSTRY, BIOTECH & PARTNERSHIPS

6. Isomorphic Labs raises $2.1 billion to scale its AI drug design engine

Isomorphic Labs, an AI-first drug design and development company, announced it has raised $2.1 Billion in Series B funding. The new capital will be used for the continued development and deployment of Isomorphic Labsʼ AI drug design engine (IsoDDE), accelerating and expanding its pipeline of therapeutic programs towards the clinic.

“This funding round is a massive vote of confidence from a diverse group of top-tier international investors in our AI-first approach to drug design and development,ˮ said Sir Demis Hassabis, founder and CEO. “Now that we have shown our approach is fundamentally sound, our focus is on scaling our technology to its full potential. This capital injection allows us to build out our drug design engine at scale, driving us forward in our mission to solve all disease.ˮ

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7. Owkin to build AI agents as part of a multi-year K Pro license agreement with AstraZeneca

Under a new three-year licensing agreement, Owkin will lead the end-to-end development of AI agents to run on K Pro, integrated within AstraZeneca’s IT infrastructure and decision workflows.The new agents’ functionality is intended to help AstraZeneca’s decision-making teams access timely, data-rich insights for complex competitive intelligence questions, reducing reliance on manual analysis within established governance, security, and enterprise standards.

Thomas Clozel, CEO and co-founder of Owkin, said: “At Owkin, we believe the future of the pharmaceutical industry is agentic. Our experience, multimodal data, and agentic infrastructure allows us to build various complex agents supporting our pharmaceutical partners, including competitive intelligence agents to support quick decisions by executives.”

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8. Artera gets FDA clearance for AI breast cancer risk prediction tool

Artera has received FDA (Food and Drug Administration) clearance for an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that predicts the likelihood of a certain form of breast cancer developing distant metastases. The clearance, which Artera disclosed, covers technology that uses histopathology images and clinical variables to stratify patients into low- and high-risk groups.

Genomic assays such as Exact Sciences’ Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score can help determine if the benefits of adjuvant chemotherapy outweigh the risks in an individual. However, some clinical facilities lack access to genomic assays, which researchers studying ArteraAI Breast called expensive and time-consuming to run. Artera designed its AI tool to provide faster, more cost-effective insights without using biopsy tissue. Last year, researchers presented assessments of the effectiveness of the technology at predicting distant metastases and the benefit of chemotherapy.

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SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES & PROTOCOLS

9. Organoids & OOC as platforms for infectious disease research

Endemic and emerging infectious diseases pose major public health, economic and societal challenges. Organoid platforms have begun to address key limitations of 2D cell line cultures and animal models in infectious disease research. In a recent review, a team of researchers explored the diverse applications of human organoids in investigating organ-specific infections and disease manifestations across major physiological systems (respiratory, digestive, nervous, cardiovascular, and more), with a primary emphasis on viral pathogens.

The researchers further discussed the importance of immune-competent and vascularized organoids for modelling complex host – pathogen interactions, and examined organoid-on-a-chip (OOC) platforms as tools to investigate dynamic processes and inter-organ mechanisms. Underscoringkey priorities for the field,they also outlined how organoid technologies can support vaccine and therapeutic development, enable the study of zoonotic transmission and contribute to pandemic preparedness.

Read the article inNature Reviews Bioengineering

10. A comprehensive analysis of components in human cell-based developmental neurotoxicity assays

While serum-free media are widely implemented, animal-derived components remain in use, particularly in supplements, ECM (extracellular matrix), and immunodetection workflows.

A new review provides a targeted materials analysis of human cell-based assays within the Developmental Neurotoxicity in vitro Battery (DNT-IVB), examining basal media, supplements, ECM, growth factors, and antibodies. The authors propose a two-pronged strategy: (1) New protocols incorporate animal-free design from inception; (2) established DNT-IVB assays evaluate component reduction where feasible, balancing validation requirements with practicality. By addressing persistent animal-derived reagents, this reagents-focused review advances animal-free DNT-IVB implementation and supports broader 3Rs objectives by providing actionable strategies for animal-free cell culture in human-relevant NAMs.

Read the article in Frontiers

11. Flash Assembloids: A rapid biofabrication of a platform for modeling early glioblastoma invasion

Glioblastoma (GBM) remains one of the most aggressive brain malignancies, characterized by rapid infiltration, therapeutic resistance, and dismal prognosis. Modeling GBM invasion in physiologically relevant systems has been hindered by the lack of reproducible platforms.

In a recent study, researchers presented a bioengineered assembloid (ASM) system that integrates GBM cells encapsulated in self-degradable 5% oxidized alginate microgel (5OA) with dorsal forebrain organoids (DOs) to recapitulate early tumor-host interactions during glioblastoma invasion toward the brain. Transcriptomic profiling demonstrated upregulation of adhesion, integrin clustering, and mechanosensing-associated genes, alongside downregulation of neuronal differentiation pathways, indicating a dual invasion and host suppression strategy. The findings suggest that the ASM recapitulates the structural, molecular, and functional hallmarks of GBM invasion and tumor-driven remodeling of the host brain microenvironment.

Read the article in Advanced Healthcare Materials

12. A preliminary model of an oral dysplastic lesion-on-a-chip

In vitro models of oral dysplasia fail to recapitulate physiologically relevant tissue-tissue interfaces and other microenvironmental cues. This study aimed to present a preliminary OOC model of a precancerous oral cavity lesion (OD-OOC). The objective was to reproduce in a two-channel microfluidic device an in vitro tridimensional (3D) model characterized by an organized interaction between endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and dysplastic oral keratinocytes on a collagen I‑coated membrane.

The presented OD-OOC, leveraging Emulate Chip-S1® Stretchable Chips, could enable in vitro monitoring of epithelial cell phenotype changes and cell migration across the membrane, suggesting its potential applicability in future oral cancer research.

Read the article in Tissue & Cell