Charity calls for more funding into non-animal research

Medical research charity The Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research has received a record number of applications from scientists seeking funding to develop non-animal techniques in research but says more funding is needed to harness the full potential of these techniques.

The charity received 120 research applications in 2009 – a 500% increase on the previous year. It awards up to £700,000 in grants annually to a wide range of fields including cancer, neurological diseases and cardiovasular conditions.

 “The limitations of using animals are becoming increasingly acknowledged within the scientific community,” said Dr Sebastian Farnaud, the Trust’s Science Director, “The ethical responsibility to tackle animal suffering is also a key factor, with many of the proposals having the potential to replace the use of thousands of animals each year.”

The Dr Hadwen Trust is the UK’s leading medical research charity funding exclusively non-animal techniques, with projects in universities, hospitals and research institutes across the UK. Current research includes development of further 3D human tissue structures with targeting gene disruptions that replace genetically modified mice, use of fibroblasts as a new disease model for Huntington’s Disease and an advance brain research tool to study brain function instead of invasive experiments on primates.

“Non-animal replacement techniques represent some of the most exciting and advanced technological approaches that medical science has to offer so it’s encouraging to see an increased interest from more scientist across all fields,” said Kailah Eglington, who has recently been appointed the Trust’s chief executive.  “At the same time, it’s disheartening to see that so many of these replacement solutions might never be explored because of lack of funding,” she continued, “We call upon the public to help raise more vital funds to pursue better and more ethical medical research.”