Looking back on the 3Rs Day 2024
The Swiss 3Rs Day 2024 was held on June 13th at the AGORA Cancer Research Centre, Lausanne. The event focused on the latest advancements and applications of the 3Rs (Replace, Reduce, Refine) in research, particularly within the field of oncology.
Sessions and Keynote
The conference featured four key sessions:
1. 3Rs Implementation in Practice
- Culture of Care in Animal Research: Fabienne Ferrara discussed refining care practices in animal research to improve outcomes for both animals and researchers.
- Assessment of Pain and Distress in Laboratory Animals: Matthew Leach from Newcastle University highlighted new methodologies for evaluating animal well-being.
- Tumor Models in Cancer Therapy: Christian Schnell from Novartis Oncology presented innovative approaches to monitor tumor metastasis using secreted luciferases.
- New Approach Methodologies (NAMs): Lothar Aicher explored the challenges and opportunities in implementing NAMs for human health risk assessments.
2. National and International 3Rs Research
- NRP79 – Advancing 3Rs: Herwig Grimm from the University of Vienna detailed the National Research Programme's initiatives to enhance 3R applications.
- French Center for 3Rs (FC3R): Doris Lou Demy provided insights into the French 3Rs initiatives.
3. Tandem Presentations Biotech-Pharma
- Presentations highlighted collaborations between biotech and pharma sectors to advance 3R principles, including:
- Lung-on-Chip for Cancer Immunotherapy: Nina Hobi and Lauriane Cabon discussed using patient-derived lung models to evaluate cancer therapy risks.
- 3D Tumor Spheroids: Laure-Anne Ligeon and Gregory Neveu shared advancements in anti-cancer therapy development.
- Human Intestinal Organoid Cultures: Nathalie Brandenberg and Anna Bremser presented automated and validated organoid cultures for preclinical safety testing.
Keynote Address
Marcel Kool from the University Medical Center Utrecht delivered a keynote on the sustainable platform of molecularly well-characterized PDX models of pediatric cancers for high-throughput drug testing in vivo.
4. 3Rs Innovation and Research
- Prostate Cancer Lineage Plasticity: Wouter Karthaus from EPFL explored targeting lineage plasticity in prostate cancer.
- Colorectal Cancer Tumor Model: Jamie Little from UZH discussed fine-tuning Drosophila models for enhanced screening sensitivity.
- Microfluidics in Drug Response Assays: Christoph Merten from EPFL and Baris Atakan from CSEM demonstrated the power of microfluidics in high-throughput antibody screening.
- Super Resolution Microscopy: Benita Wolf from CHUV presented new microscopy techniques for preclinical assessments of adoptive T cell therapies.
Poster Awards
The conference included a poster session where researchers showcased their work. The top three poster finalists presented flash talks, and a live audience poll determined the best poster presentation, awarded CHF 500, which was awarded to Frida Nilsson from UZH for her presentation on the Rodent MDA method in cancer research.
Exhibitors
Several exhibitors, including Scinora GmbH, IDEXX BioAnalytics, Nagi Bioscience, and Promega, displayed innovative products and solutions aligned with the 3Rs principles.
This year the Young 3Rs Investigator award was given Viola Bugada from the University of Zurich and Duygu Yazici from the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research, Davos, Associated Institute of the University of Zurich. The 3Rs Award was awarded to the STRIDE-Lab led by Benjamin Ineichen (Research group leader, Center for Reproducible Science, University of Zurich) for its exceptional contributions to animal welfare in research.
Conclusion
The event concluded with an awards ceremony and closing remarks by Rolf Zeller, Vice President of 3RCC, followed by a networking apero. The Swiss 3Rs Day 2024 provided a comprehensive overview of the latest advancements in 3Rs research and fostered collaborations between academia, industry, and regulatory bodies to promote humane and efficient scientific practices.
For the full conference booklet click here.