Skin models as an alternative to animal testing

A Fraunhofer start-up aims to significantly reduce animal testing with skin models grown from human stem cells

05-Jun-2024 - Animal testing has long been a fixture of medical and pharmaceutical research, but alternative methods are growing more and more important. Innovative methods allow for research aimed directly at humans — without using animal testing as an intermediate step. TigerShark Science, a planned ...

Innovative bioreactor research processes and cryotechnologies improve active ingredient tests using human cell cultures

This is paving the way for efficient real-world use of these cell cultures in toxicity testing and drug discovery

06-May-2024 - Many new drug candidates end up failing because they cause serious side effects in clinical trials. This is a common occurrence if the cells used come from animal tissue, for example. Specially prepared cell cultures made from human tissue known as human induced pluripotent stem (hiPS) cells ...

With AI and lasers to fully automated cell selection

Continuous movement versus stop-and-go process

14-Mar-2024 - Tests on living cell cultures are becoming increasingly important for personalized medicine, drug development and clinical research. The Aachen-based Fraunhofer Institutes for Laser Technology ILT and for Production Technology IPT have developed an AI-assisted high-throughput process that now ...

Designer immune cells for drug discovery, potency and safety testing

Precise therapeutics testing — preventing animal testing

07-Dec-2022 - To prevent testing on animals and create even more precise ways of testing therapeutics, the pharmaceutical industry is increasingly turning to human immune cells. However, the availability of cells like these has been limited to date. Now, Fraunhofer researchers have succeeded in scaling the ...

Stem cells from the bioreactor

Process for the mass production

05-Nov-2021 - With the aid of artificial stem cells, it will soon be possible to establish new treatments for previously incurable diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. At the Fraunhofer Project Center for Stem Cell Process Engineering SPT, a process for the mass production of these so called induced ...

Cell-based fish from the bioreactor

Alternative to fishing –

06-Aug-2021 - Already about 90 percent of all fish stocks are considered maximally exploited or overfished. But as the world's population continues to grow, more and more people rely on fish as a source of protein. Bluu GmbH – a spin-off of the Fraunhofer Research and Development Center for Marine and Cellular ...

Central biobank for drug research

03-Sep-2014 - For the development of new drugs it is crucial to work with stem cells, as these allow scientists to study the effects of new active pharmaceutical ingredients. But it has always been difficult to derive enough stem cells of the right quality and in the right timeframe. A central biobank is about ...

Plasma in bags

07-Nov-2011 - Using plasmas, sealed plastic bags can be modified at atmospheric pressure so that human cells can adhere to and reproduce on their walls. Cell culture bags of this kind are an important aid for research and clinical purposes and may eventually replace the Petri dishes used today. Physicians are ...