Dr. Agnieszka Rybak-Wolf, head of the organoid laboratory at the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin, has been awarded a research grant of €200,000 by the Alzheimer Research Initiative. The grant will enable her to investigate early molecular mechanisms that could contribute to the development of Alzheimer's disease.

The platform, called Chesar, supports REACH and biocide registrants by helping them carry out chemical safety assessments for so-called “simple” substances (i.e., substances for which the assessment is based on a single set of substance properties). The European Chemicals Agency invites users to try out the tool and provide feedback so that the platform can be improved and refined for future versions.

The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR) has published a guideline to support student associations and other organizations in their engagement on higher education policy issues of national importance. This could perhaps be helpful in addressing the question of the advantages of studying with animal-free methods—it's worth a try.

A research team at the BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) has developed a method that enables them to grow mini-tumors, known as tumoroids, from a patient's cancer tissue in the laboratory to test potential therapies. With their new cultivation method, the team plans to further develop CAR-T cell therapies against solid tumors and advance personalized oncology.

A research team from Helmholtz Munich, in collaboration with scientists from Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU), Aix-Marseille University, the French Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm), and other international partners, has discovered that mostly harmless, common gut bacteria can inject proteins directly into human cells and thereby actively influence immune responses.

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.