Post by Adolphe Merkle Institute

🫁 How dangerous are inhaled substances? 🤒 How can we ensure these particles do not damage our lungs and bodies? 🐁 And how can we answer these questions without using thousands of laboratory animals annually? One alternative is 3D lung models pieced together from a variety of cells, replicating the intricate biological processes within the human body. As such, they offer a more accurate and predictive framework for assessing the potential health impacts of materials. However, while making great strides forward in recent years, these models have not been substantially investigated or validated. The result is that they have not been as widely adopted in practice as they might have been. As part of the National Research Program 79: Advancing 3R – Research, Animals and Society, a team led by the Adolphe Merkle Institute's BioNanomaterials Co-Chair, Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser, and Fabian Blank of the University of Bern's Department for BioMedical Research, aims to improve this situation. The project compares lab results with real-life effects, enhancing the accuracy of the models and reducing the need for animal experimentation in inhalation toxicology testing. For more on this project, check out the short video explainer below ⬇️ : https://lnkd.in/ehWuaujB Isidora Lončarević Martina Dzepic Seyran Mutlu Université de Fribourg - Universität Freiburg Unifr – Faculty of Science and Medicine Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF #3R #research #toxicology #health