Every year, the BMEL announces an animal welfare research prize with a total prize money of 25,000 euros. However, everything is different this year: The prize has been redesigned. It will be awarded in three categories and the prize money amounts to a total of 220,000 euros. And there's something else that's different.

At the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, a three-dimensional model of human skin has been developed for the first time that precisely and quickly displays the skin's reaction to substances directly on living tissue.  

A team of researchers at the Center for Applied Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (CANTER) at Munich University of Applied Sciences has succeeded in modifying a simple 3D printer so that it can create biological structures at the press of a button. This is an opportunity for small laboratories to conduct research in this area too.

For the 21st time, the European Congress on Alternatives to Animal Testing took place in Linz, and for the second time at the Medical Campus of Johannes Keppler University. Young scientists from 30 countries presented their findings and developments.