The top 3 nominees for the Hugo van Poelgeest Award have been announced! Our jury has selected three young, animal-free researchers from over twenty entries who are in the running for the famed Hugo van Poelgeest Award and a cash prize of €5,000,-.
Meet the top 3 nominees
Earlier this year, research group leaders could nominate their young researchers for the Hugo van Poelgeest Award. An independent scientific jury then selected the following three scientists:
Patrick Mulder: “I am committed to improving burn research without animal suffering by developing skin models from human cells.”
Patrick Mulder is a familiar face to us, as we also highlighted his animal-free burn research late last year. Patrick is working with the Dutch Association of Collaborating Burn Centres on faster and better healing of burn injuries. In the lab, he and his team are developing animal-free skin models based on human cells. With his models he hopes not only to prevent animal suffering, but also to gain better insight into the human body’s response to burns and the effects of existing and new treatment methods.
Henrique Pinto: “With animal-free innovative human in vitro models, we can better mimic the complexity of the human brain.”
To date, there are no good (human) measurement models for developing medication for brain diseases. This is largely due to the blood-brain barrier: a sort of boundary between the blood and the brain that protects the brain from harmful substances and unfortunately also often blocks medications.
Henrique Nogueira Pinto wants to mimic a human blood-brain barrier in the lab and connect it to mini-brains. If successful, this would enable better research into successfully getting medications past the blood-brain barrier and accurately testing their effects on the brain.
Giulia Moreni: “Biomedical research will bring better and faster care to patients when it is conducted using human-based models, instead of in animals.”
Last but not least is Giulia Moreni, participant (and winner) of the Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge 2023.
After researching the use of animals in virus research, Giulia concluded that many animal tests could be adequately replaced by animal-free alternatives. Using human stem cells, Giulia is developing models that allow animal-free research into the progression and treatment of viruses. Her pioneering work lays the foundation for personalized medicine in patients suffering from chronic viral infections due to rare genetic disorders.
Scientists of the future
The Hugo van Poelgeest Award is the oldest Dutch prize for lab animal-free research in the life sciences. Together with Stichting Bouwstenen voor Dierenwelzijn, we award the prize to a young, talented researcher who has completed innovative, lab animal-free research within the life sciences.
With a cash prize of no less than €5,000, we want to support young scientists in their animal-free research and inspire future scientists to follow their example. In addition to the jury prize, an audience prize will also be awarded, where people are asked to vote for one of the three nominees. The audience prize is €1,500.
Finally, a professional promotional video of his or her research is made for each researcher, which will also be used to determine the winner.
Join our LinkedIn group
We invite you to join the Animal Free Gallery on LinkedIn. This platform is your space to share animal-free successes, exchange knowledge, and network with like-minded professionals and scientists. Together, we can move towards innovations without animal testing. Join us and celebrate every development towards ethical and innovative research!
