Alternatives to animal testing: State Prize for Doris Wilflingseder
Alternatives to animal testing: State Prize for Doris Wilflingseder
The State Prize for the Promotion of Alternative Methods to Animal Experiments 2021 was awarded today to Doris Wilflingseder from the Medical University of Innsbruck and Peter Ertl from the Technical University of Vienna. The initiatives and established technologies for basic research free of animal experiments set by the Innsbruck immunologist and infection biologist at the Medical University of Innsbruck are attracting national and international attention.
Basic research without animal experiments – that has been Doris Wilflingseder’s top priority since the beginning of her scientific work. The immunologist, who was recently appointed university professor for infection biology, researches the interaction of viruses and fungi with components of the immune system at the Institute for Hygiene and Medical Microbiology at the Medical University of Innsbruck. “I am convinced that good human cell culture models and corresponding novel technologies such as high content screening or single-cell RNA sequencing will help us when researching human pathogens such as HIV-1 or SARS-CoV-2 or opportunistic human pathogenic fungi such as aspergillus make better progress than experiments in animal models,” emphasizes the researcher, who works exclusively with humans in the laboratory in vitromodels and developed differentiated human 3D cell culture models to study the first interactions of different pathogens in the acute phase of infection.
Immune Response in Live Mode
Promising in this context is the human 3D mucosal model she established, which was also published in the publication “C5aR inhibition of non-immune cells suppresses inflammation and preserves epithelial integrity in SARS-CoV-2-infected primary human airway epithelia”. was used (further information: https://www.i-med.ac.at/pr/presse/2021/23.html) “This in vitro– makes it possible to study detailed interactions and interactions of different pathogens with molecules and enzymes of an intact, complex mucosa in live mode,” says Doris Wilflingseder, whose innovative model is mainly used in the preclinical phase – the section in which safety and toxicology new active ingredients are tested – scores.
At the Innsbruck location, Doris Wilflingseder opened and founded the translational “MUI animalFree Research Cluster” in 2017. The trend-setting initiative wants to bundle the 3R (Replacement-Reduction-Refinement) expertise of the Tyrol region and intensify animal-free research at the site, for example to facilitate the testing of potential antimicrobial active ingredients using state-of-the-art technologies. Doris Wilflingseder is also Vice President of The RepRefRed Society. As a lecturer at the Medical University of Innsbruck, she has succeeded in establishing the subject of “Alternatives to animal experiments” as a compulsory lecture in the curriculum of the Master’s degree in Molecular Medicine and in the PhD programs.
State prize for the promotion of alternative methods to animal experiments
The State Prize for the Promotion of Alternative Methods to Animal Experiments was awarded to Doris Wilflingseder on April 13, 2022 in Vienna. “This recognition is a great honor for me and in particular motivates me to continue on the path of basic and translational research without animal experiments in order to increase the complexity of these models and thus promote the replacement or reduction with good alternatives,” emphasizes Doris Wilflingseder. Minister of Science Martin Polaschek congratulated: “Both award winners show with their work how outstanding scientific research can succeed in the essential area of alternative methods to animal experiments. The prize is intended to encourage researchers to continue their commitment to alternative method research in the future, and the prize is intended to generate attention so that more researchers devote themselves to this topic.”
Christine Bandtlow, Vice Rector for Research and International Affairs at the Medical University of Innsbruck, is also pleased: “We cannot yet completely do without animal experiments in biomedical research. I am all the more pleased to have a scientist like Doris Wilflingseder at the Medical University of Innsbruck, who, with her great commitment and initiatives, sensitizes and inspires researchers and students for this important topic.”
The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research donates this state prize for excellent scientific work, its results or objectives, in the sense of the 3R principle according to Russel and Burch (1959), the avoidance (replacement) or reduction (reduction) of the use of animals in animal experiments or the improvement (refinement) of the conditions for the breeding, housing, care and use of animals in animal experiments. The State Prize is endowed with 10,000 euros.
(April 13, 2022, text: D. Heidegger, image: BKA/Florian Schrötter)
Links:
Institute for Hygiene and Medical Microbiology