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Physicians Committee’s Award Helps Early-Career Researcher Inspire International Group of Scientists With Her Animal-Free Research
Sophie Schweinitzer, MSc, is a PhD student at the Vienna University of Technology in the Cell Chip Group, which is focused on improving lab-on-a-chip systems for biotechnology and medical research. Thanks in part to a travel award from the Physicians Committee’s Early-Career Researchers Advancing 21st Century Science (ERA21) program, Schweinitzer attended the European Society for Alternatives to Animal Testing Congress this week where she presented her research on nonanimal, human-specific brain models to an international group of researchers and scientists.
Schweinitzer presented her project titled Integration of the Blood-Brain Barrier and Brain Organoids in a Modular Microfluidic Platform for Sensor-Based Analysis in Drug Screening and Disease Modeling Applications. “The use of human-based methods in my research is important as it addresses ethical concerns associated with animal testing but also improves the relevance of our findings to human health,” says Schweinitzer. “By developing a blood-brain barrier model using human cells, we can create more accurate representations of human biology.”
“We are thrilled to present Sophie Schweinitzer this travel award, helping her to reach an international audience with her cutting-edge animal-free research,” says Catharine E. Krebs, PhD, a medical research program manager with the Physicians Committee. “The Physicians Committee’s ERA21 Travel Awards are designed to educate and support the next generation of scientists committed to advancing science ethically using nonanimal methods for research and testing.”
Schweinitzer adds that the Physicians Committee’s ERA21 Travel Award “will provide invaluable opportunities for networking and collaboration with leading researchers in nonanimal methodologies.”
ERA21 works with students and early-career researchers and connects them to the benefits of human-relevant research through education, training, funding opportunities, and networking. At the Congress, Dr. Krebs presented her own work with the Coalition to Illuminate and Address Animal Methods Bias (COLAAB). Animal methods bias is the preference some researchers have for animal-based methods. It may lead early-stage researchers to pursue animal methods because of the impression that they must do so in order to publish and progress their careers. Initiatives like ERA21 and the COLAAB aim to empower researchers to push back against pressures to use animals.
