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Welcome to our newsletter October 2010!

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You receive this E-mail because you are listed in our mailing-list or you have been participant of the "16th Congress on Alternatives in Linz" and we took your contact E-mail address out of the ALTEX supplement "Abstracts Linz 2010". (You can unsubscribe at any time).

First we will give a short outline of important news, as there is the $3.3 million in funding of the development of organ systems in the US and the publication of the revised Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes now published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

In the following, we will present our special on the "16th Congress on Alternatives in Linz". This year the congress was the major international scientific event in the field of the 3Rs and took place in September in Linz, Austria. The congress was held as a joint congress of the European Society for Toxicology In Vitro (ESTIV) and the European Society for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EUSAAT).

Besides the actual information the participants of the congress in Linz could gain and the information available in the publications of ALTEX, we tried to get some impressions from the congress by interviewing organisers, representatives, session leaders, awardees and participants of the congress. We made some interviews at the end and after the congress. So we can present a variety of important subjects, commendations as well as desiderates in matters of participation of representatives from politics, desiderates in education of young researchers in the field of the 3Rs as well as desiderates in central steering on international platform in the field of alternatives to animal experiments.

We hope you will enjoy this newsletter.

Your InVitroJobs-Team


Contents of this newsletter:

1. NEWS

2. SPECIAL ON LINZ 2010

3. SELECTED FORTHCOMING DEADLINES

4. CLOSING REMARKS

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1. NEWS

Revised EU-Directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes now published in the Official Journal of the European Union. To increase the use of alternative approaches is necessary.
The Directive will enter into force on 9th Nov. 2010. Using animals should only be considered where a non-animal alternative is unavailable. To promote the principle of reduction, Member States should facilitate the establishment of programmes for sharing organs and tissues. Availability of alternative methods is dependent on the progress of the research into the development of alternatives. There is an increasing need for new methods to be developed and proposed for validation. Community programmes provide increased funding for projects which aim to replace, reduce and refine the use of animals.
Read more about the main points concerning alternative methods which are appointed in the official reasons of the Directive:
www.invitrojobs.com/

A "Comparative Analysis of the Revised Directive 2010/63/EU for the Protection of Laboratory Animals with its Predecessor 86/609/EEC – a t4 Report" is published by Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Hartung, Johns Hopkins University, CAAT (US) and CAAT-Europe, University of Konstanz (Germany) in the actual issue of ALTEX 27 4/10 285-303. Hartung points out, that some major advances for animal welfare had already been common practice in the more progressive Member States. He mentioned that the new Directive prohibits new, more progressive legislation if not already in place when the revised Directive enters into force. This would harmonise, “but also freezes the 27 Member States”.

A new milestone: combining two different organ systems within a single microsystem
To develop a "Heart-Lung Micromachine", bioengineers from Harvard have been awarded $3.3 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (NIH-FDA). The device will accelerate drug safety and efficacy testing. The project is one of four winners selected as part of an effort by the NIH and FDA to work together on the public health issue of advancing regulatory science. The Heart-Lung Micromachine will be based on technology that combines microfabrication techniques from the computer industry with tissue engineering techniques. The micromachine will build on "organs on chips", tiny, complex, three-dimensional models of human organs which mimic the mechanical, cellular and biochemical functions of specific organs, such as the lung. Combining two different organ systems within a single microsystem will mark a new milestone.
Link to the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences press release of 4th October 2010.

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2. SPECIAL ON LINZ 2010:




Link to the complete special: Impressions from the Congress Linz 2010

Below you will find the links to the respective articles and interviews:

Significance, Organisers and Topics of the Congress
Some points out of the welcome address of Prof. Dr. Horst Spielmann, President of EUSAAT and Representative of ESTIV.
Link to the article: This Year's Conference


Some Facts and about the Mission of the Congress
Interview with Helmut Appl, MSc, Secretary General of EUSAAT and head of the congress office, about the participants, presentations and posters. Helmut Appl gave us an account of the state-of-the-art lectures at the beginning of each session, an innovation of this year´ s congress. He explained the philosophy of the congress and criticised that there was only few participation from representatives of governmental authorities and from politics in the past years.
Link to the interview: “To get participants from different professions together"


Integration and Promotion of Young Researchers at the Congress
One aim of the congress is to integrate young scientists by giving them a platform upon which to present their ideas and achievements. Here you find some information on the students' session, about the selected students and their presentations.
Link to the article: Special recognition of young scientists, to stimulate exchange of information among students and to bring young and senior scientists together


Desiderata in the Education of Students in Life Sciences
Interview with Prof. Dr. Horst Spielmann, President of EUSAAT and Representative of ESTIV about the attendance of young researchers, the deficit of courses in which one learns how to implement the 3Rs into research and the need to give this field a higher priority. Prof. Spielmann spoke about the first chairs for alternative methods in Germany and an interdisciplinary Graduate School for the 3Rs. He told us, that according to his experience, ethical aspects are currently not covered sufficiently in the curricula of students in the life sciences.
Link to the interview: “I do see a need to give this field a much higher priority in the education in the life sciences”


Presentations of Projects and Institutions, Companies and Products
Link to the article: Poster Sessions and Exhibition


Awards to Advance Alternatives
The ESTIV Awards, the Linz 2010 Poster Award, the ALTEX Award, the Dieter Lütticken Award, the Award of the Doerenkamp-Zbinden Foundation and the Doerenkamp-Zbinden Medal of Honour.
Link to the article: This Year´s Awards


Development Towards Alternative Methods
Interview with the awardee of the Doerenkamp-Zbinden Medal of Honour, Prof. Dr. Walter Pfaller, Vice-President of EUSAAT, about the significance of the congress and its influence on the dissemination of knowledge and the further development of alternative methods.
Link to the interview: To unravel mechanisms at the level of the most relevant target cell in a much clearer way than using the complex model of a whole animal body


Strong Difference Between the US and EU
Interview with Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Hartung, Vice-President of EUSAAT, Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) about the benefit for the participants. Prof. Hartung pointed out the significance of politics, which makes it possible to apply the developments of the researchers and told us about the main point he wanted to address with his introductory lecture: The difference between the US and EU situation and the need to create a bridge between the `two worlds´.
Link to the interview: "We need central steering for putting the different elements together”


Alternatives for Antibody Production in Animals Available
Interview with Dr. Alison Gray, ESTIV secretary and Dr. Hadwen Trust Trustee, chair of the special session on antibody production about the problem of the extensive use of animals for the production of antibodies, which are often used even when working with in vitro methods. The technology to produce recombinant antibodies without using animals exists. Dr. Gray explained the aim of the session and pointed out the problem, that there is no facility which provides a library of recombinant antibodies.
Link to the article: Special session on antibody production: “To address the problem”


Engagement to Save Animals from REACH-Experiments
Interview with Dr. Carlotta Casalegno, toxicologist of the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE), about her project in matters of the estimated millions of animals that could be used for animal testing under REACH. She explicated the testing proposal system and the possibility to submit evidence or existing data within 45 days in order to waive the testing before the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) reaches a decision.
Link to the interview: 45 days to submit evidence or existing data to help waive testing with animals: participants for network wanted


The Congress from the Viewpoint of a Participant
Interview with Dr. Stefan R.M. Fennrich, Clinical Research Laboratory, University of Tübingen, about the significance of the congress from the viewpoint of a developer of alternative methods. Dr. Fennrich told us about the unique possibility of the congress to plunge into the heterogeneous and complex world of alternative methods, to think outside the box and to exchange ideas.
Link to the interview: Thinking outside the box, discussing critically, working on visions

3. SELECTED FORTHCOMING DEADLINES


Oktober 29, 2010:

• Deadline for applications for funding by Animalfree Research, Switzerland. Applicants from all over the world can apply for funding.
  More details: www.invitrojobs.com/

November 15, 2010:

• Deadline for proposals for the "2010 NC3Rs Prize" announced by the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research. This prize is open to researchers based in the United Kingdom.
  More details: www.invitrojobs.com/