Members of Parliament visit Animal Free Research UK’s Animal Replacement Centre of Excellence
To coincide with the theme for British Science Week – Change and Adapt – on Tuesday 11th March, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Phasing Out Animal Experiments in Medical Research (which we provide Secretariat support for), organised a cross-party visit to Animal Free Research UK’s Animal Replacement Centre of Excellence (ARC) at Queen Mary University of London, where groundbreaking research into the spread of cancer is taking place.
During the visit, attendees, including Parliamentary staffers from the office of Steve Race MP, Lord Courtown and Sarah Champion MP, heard directly from Dr Rosalind Hannen, CEO and founder of Keratify Ltd, part-time lecturer in Cutaneous Research, Dr Adrian Biddle, Reader in Cancer Biology and Professor John Connelly, Professor of Bioengineering, about their pioneering work using human-specific technology to better understand complex conditions and provide medical breakthroughs.
Dr Hannen demonstrated to the group how she is revolutionising human skin testing which is already providing better results for patients without using animals. Dr Biddle showed how he and his team are using animal-free methods to better understand how cancer cells spread and invade other organs of the human body. Professor Connelly explained how he is developing animal-free next-generation 3D tissues and disease models for use in biomedical research.
A big thank you to Dr Hannen, Dr Biddle & Professor Connelly for taking the time to show the group around your fascinating laboratories and for explaining your detailed and insightful work!
In the days following the lab visit, we have been busy digesting what we heard from our expert scientists, and we are following up with all of our attendees and updating members of the APPG on Phasing Out Animal Experiments in Medical Research. For us it’s clear that human-specific approaches, such as the work of Dr Hannen, Dr Biddle & Professor Connelly, are a triple-win, helping patients, scientific research and animals.
