The Alternatives Research & Development Foundation (ARDF) is once again accepting applications this year for research projects that replace or reduce the use of animals in research.

A multidisciplinary consortium of European scientists, regulators, and legal experts has launched a project called ReadyAI to address regulatory concerns about the use of artificial intelligence in interpreting chemical risks.

A German-Canadian research team has developed an AI method called BioPathNet. It helps researchers search large biological data networks for hidden connections such as gene functions, disease mechanisms, and possible therapeutic approaches.

The nigrostriatal pathway is one of the four most important dopamine pathways in the brain and plays a crucial role in movement execution as part of a system called the basal ganglia motor loop. How this circuit develops during human development and how it degenerates under pathological conditions is still largely unknown. A research team from Sweden, Denmark, as well as Switzerland has succeeded in developing an in vitro model (connectoid) to elucidate the mechanism.

The Mirror Group (MG) is an advisory body that provides recommendations and opinions on the implementation of the EPAA Action Program, on project proposals and project implementation, and on other ongoing tasks of the EPAA, such as public relations, communication, and dissemination of information. It acts as an interface between the EPAA partnership and expert groups, including those from science, (national) 3Rs centers, patient groups, animal research and animal welfare NGOs. It acts as a “multiplier” for the work of the EPAA.

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (BMLEH) has announced the Animal Welfare Research Award 2026. Nominations for the award can be submitted until the end of March.
 

Starting in September this year, a new specialized bioengineering degree program will be offered in London—the Master of Science in Organ-on-a-Chip Technologies.

At the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), located in Braunschweig, every month, an AI-based robot - called Molly - , pipettes 30,000 miniaturized hearts, lungs, and brains into microtiter plates for drug research. By doing this, they aim to at least reduce animal testing.

The Max Delbrück Center and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité have joined a national network of six genome computing centers and the German Human Genome Phenome Archive. This makes Berlin an operational data hub for genome medicine and omics-based research. 

As part of the GO-Bio initial program of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR), a project is being funded that develops patient organoids to identify treatment options for childhood liver diseases.