© Pint of Science, 2025. All rights reserved.
Discover how scientists are revolutionising how we study the human body – without the use of animals. From body-on-chip technology to lab-grown cell clusters, learn more about the human cell-based models used to study biology, understand development and disease, and test new medicines.This event is kindly sponsored by the National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs), a scientific organisation that works with the research community to pioneer better science that replaces, reduces and refines the use of animals.
Plug and Play Human
Dr. Liam Carr
(Postdoctoral researcher, Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh)
Imagine having information about how all your major organs are working in the palm of your hand. This is a body-on-chip, a plastic device containing human heart, brain, lung, kidney and liver cells. Find out how scientists are using the device to study how disease develops and mimic how a medicine moves through the body, and the potential of this technology to replace the use of animals in research and testing.
Human Development in a Dish
Dr Lawrence Bates
(Postdoctoral researcher, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh)
How do scientists study how an embryo develops into a whole organism? Most research to understand how organs and limbs develop uses mouse embryos. Enter gastruloids – made from stem cells that self-organise into a 3D ball, complex cultures which can then be modified, studied and analysed to understand events in early development, without the use of animals.
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