News on non-animal methods
DECEMBER 08 - 12, 2025
NEWS, REPORTS & POSITION STATEMENTS
1. India bioprinting push: New partnership with UK institutions
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Henry Royce Institute at the University of Manchester have signed a letter of intent to work together on advanced research in 3D bioprinting, biofabrication and materials science. The partnership is part of a UK – India Technology Security Initiative and will bring together researchers working on bioprinting, biomaterials, engineering biology and advanced manufacturing.
Over the next few years, the two institutions plan to develop new biomaterials, in vitro models, medical implants and other technologies that can support next-generation healthcare. Both sides will identify areas for joint research and opportunities for industry collaboration and technology transfer.
2. Taiwan to develop a national OOC model
Taiwan is leveraging its semiconductor, artificial intelligence (AI) and supply chain strengths to develop a national organ-on-a-chip (OOC) model, aiming to gain a competitive edge in biomedicine. The goal is to create a standardized local model that can be mass produced at a low cost.
As a proof-of-concept, Professor Hsu Yu-hsiang from National Taiwan University Institute of Applied Mechanics said that scientists introduced the COVID-19 virus in an OOC with human lung cells to learn how it infected humans. While Europe and the US lead in OOC development, Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and AI give the nation an opportunity to catch up, National Center for Biomodels Director-General Chin Hsien-ching said.
3. First FDA IND milestone achieved using human vascularized organoid
Qureator Inc., a San Diego – based innovator in AI-powered, human-relevant OOC platforms, announced that its proprietary vascularized tumor immune microenvironment model generated pivotal preclinical efficacy data that has enabled the pharma company SillaJen to secure U.S. FDA approval of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for a combination therapy of BAL0891 with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
“This milestone demonstrates how close collaboration between regulators and innovators can accelerate the transition to human-relevant testing,” said Kyu Baek, Ph.D., CEO of Qureator.
4. France 2030: Investing in AI for health
France has announced a 300 million euros investment for 15 strategic research programs to accelerate scientific and technological progress in key sectors such as health, biodiversity, decarbonized energy, and sovereign technologies.
Three programs aim to include AI and precision medicine for major advances in healthcare: PRODROM-ND, to detect neurodegenerative diseases earlier using AI and predictive biomarkers; TRANSCEND-ID, to personalize treatment for chronic inflammatory diseases through molecular profiling; TREASURE, to create an AI-enhanced transplantation clinic to improve patient monitoring and medical decisions.
Read more (FR)
INTERVIEWS, NOMINATIONS & AWARDS
5. Old drugs, new tricks: AI helps rescue failed medicines
At Ignota Labs, Dr. Jordan Lane and Dr. Layla Hosseini-Gerami are on a mission to revive shelved drugs. To achieve their goal, the team has developed SAFEPATH, an AI platform that combines machine learning with bioinformatics and cheminformatics datasets to better understand toxicity mechanisms. The team recently demonstrated the power of this approach to gain new insights into the toxicity mechanisms of erlotinib and gefitinib, two cancer drugs used to treat non-small cell lung cancer.
Technology Networks caught up with Lane and Hosseini-Gerami at the 2025 ELRIG Drug Discovery conference to learn more about how SAFEPATH can help solve existing promising drug safety and efficacy issues and the impact this could have on the sustainability of drug discovery and development.
TOOLS, PLATFORMS, CALLS
6. World’s first dedicated masters programme in OOC
Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) is launching a new specialist bioengineering programme, MSc Organ-on-a-Chip (OOC) Technologies, open for September 2026 applications.
Delivered within the renowned Centre for Predictive In Vitro Models (CPM), the course provides advanced training in next-generation OOC, tissue engineering and in vitro technologies. Following the UK Government’s recently announced strategy to reduce the use of animals in science, non-animal research methods are gaining increased attention, and OOC technology has been named as a priority area for future investment.
- The Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) at the CPM is currently recruiting PhD projects to start in September 2026. See more details of each project
STAY TUNED – Pro Anima scientific committee’s DVES Prize will be open for application in early 2026!
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INDUSTRY, BIOTECH & PARTNERSHIPS
7. AZAR Innovations partner in the SPARC consortium
SPARC (Scalable Personalised Advanced Research for Cancer) has been awarded €7.2M in funding by NWO (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek). The goal of SPARC is to make personalized cancer medicine both scalable and affordable by bridging innovations at the nanoscale with process scalability and health economics.
Among partners from both academia and industry, AZAR Innovations will focus on cancer-on-chip applications and training sessions for academic and pharma end-users.
8. Gelomics partnered with Google to transform drug development industry
Gelomics, a Brisbane AI start-up company, has partnered with tech giant Google in hopes of solving a dark secret plaguing the drug development industry. Co-founder and CEO of Gelomics, Dr Christoph Meinert, said that “The failure of every single drug candidate causes losses that exceed US$1.3 billion. And the total loss in the industry exceeds US$100 billion every single year”, reminding that in oncology or cancer treatment, the correlation was less than five per cent, and in some other indications, such as Alzheimer’s, it was less than one per cent.
Together, Gelomics and Google completed the 10-week accelerator program through which they were able to build a fully operational end-to-end program resulting in 90% predictive accuracy in the key parameters, and 60% faster data analysis.
SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES & PROTOCOLS
9. Increased reproducibility of brain organoids through controlled fluid dynamics
Despite the potential, brain organoid 3D structure exhibits high variability during differentiation across batches and cell lines, presenting a significant challenge for biomedical applications. During development, organoids are exposed to fluid Flow Shear Stress (fFSS) that is thought to disrupt cellular integrity and morphogenesis, leading to variation in organoids architecture, ultimately affecting reproducibility.
In a new study, researchers demonstrate that reducing fFSS, by employing a vertically rotating chamber during neuronal induction significantly improves the reproducibility of brain organoids by minimizing morphological structure variation and preserving transcriptional signature fidelity. This approach could enhance the reliability of brain organoid models, with important implications for neurodevelopmental research and preclinical studies.
10. Characterising a HepaRG liver MPS
Liver microphysiological systems (MPS) have gained increasing attention as human-relevant models for chemical safety assessments, particularly for studies with defined endpoints, such as cholestatic injury.
In a new study, researchers built upon a previously established HepaRG-based liver MPS model using the OrganoPlate® 3‑lane system and monitored cell self-organisation, health, and maturation using microscopy, viability assays, albumin and individual bile acid secretion profiling, and gene expression analysis. This proof-of-concept highlights the potential of flow conditions to enable in situ HepaRG maturation and represent a promising step toward defining a potential context of use as a tool for cholestatic injury.
WORTH (RE)SHARING
7,000 cancer tissue samples, lab-grown organoids: Inside IIT-Madras’s push for precision oncology
Researchers have discovered a mutation in breast cancer samples that occur at a much higher frequency in Indian samples as compared to data available from the West
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