Human-relevant disease models and the 3Rs in cardiovascular research

Fraunhofer ITEM researchers are working to develop new human-relevant disease and test models according to the principle of the 3Rs, both in vitro and ex vivo. The aim is to avoid animal experiments altogether wherever possible (replacement), to reduce the number of animals per experiment (reduction) and to keep their distress in experiments to an absolute minimum (refinement).

Viable tissue slices from lungs and airways are an ex-vivo model that has already been established at Fraunhofer ITEM. Dr. Jan Fiedler's team is now breaking new ground by developing or refining models of the heart. The use of human cardiomyocytes or multicellular heart slices along with the application of computational bioinformatics methods has great potential for cardiovascular research. These models are intended to enable better prediction of research results in humans and at the same time reduce animal testing. In addition, this technique can be easily transferred to other organs. The researchers are already working on further models, for example of the kidney.