The MRC Toxicology Unit is part of a £15.9 million initiative from the Medical Research Council (MRC), Innovate UK and the Wellcome Trust to advance promising ‘human in vitro models’. This sits alongside new UK government strategy to reduce animal testing, speeding up plans to phase out the use of animals in science.
Science Minister Lord Vallance announced new plans to reduce animal testing in a strategy developed in conjunction with life sciences, business and animal welfare organisations. The £75 million in funding will speed up the development of alternative methods for testing and streamline regulation.
The MacFarlane Lab will investigate human models of cancer as part of the INTREPID (IN vitro TumouR Explant models for evaluating cancer complexity and Patient Diversity) program, to enable testing of cancer therapies without using animals.
New life saving medicines such as vaccines and nucleic acid therapies must be tested to ensure that they are safe and effective. Testing is also essential to determine safe limits for exposure to environmental pollutants such as pesticides. Whilst there are replacements available for some tests such as those for skin and eye irritation, many tests currently performed on animals have no suitable alternative. This government strategy will allow further research into and validation of alternative methods so that we can transition faster from animal use.
Alternative methods include:
- organoids - groups of cells that have some organ features
- organ-on-a-chip systems – tiny devices that mimic how human organs work using real human cells and microfluidic devices
- ex vivo cultures - tissues removed during surgery and kept in the right conditions to allow further studies
- AI pipelines - integrate data about the effects of molecules to predict whether new medicines will be safe and work well on humans
- 3D bioprinted tissues - create realistic human tissue environments, from skin to liver, to test if substances are toxic
Working with researchers in the University of Leicester, Imperial College, Oxford University, University College London, and Medicines Discovery Catapult; the MacFarlane lab will work to improve our understanding of how human cancers develop. The interdisciplinary team will use this information to develop ex vivo models of cancer that better replicate human disease and mirror patient diversity. In this way, they aim to reduce the need for testing cancer treatments on animals.