Exciting news! VitalTissue has received a substantial 1.5 million euros to establish a new system that facilitates the availability of human residual tissue for scientific research. This is great news for both humans and animals because it allows research to align more closely with real-life situations in the human body, thereby preventing tens of thousands of animal experiments.
What is VitalTissue?
Let’s have a quick recap: What exactly is VitalTissue? In short, VitalTissue ensures that human tissue remaining after surgeries is made available for scientific research. By connecting hospitals and research institutions, donated residual tissue can easily transition from the operating table to the research table. Researchers can then use this tissue for drug research, significantly reducing animal testing.
A significant milestone
The 1.5 million euros received by VitalTissue will be used to establish a new infrastructure, making the use of human residual tissue for scientific research more straightforward and accessible.
“This is a significant milestone and a tremendous boost for the transition to animal-free innovation in the Netherlands, as good access to vital human tissue is a crucial requirement for the development and application of existing and new research models for diseases and drug safety. With this grant, we can genuinely put our ideas into practice, together with all stakeholders!”
Cyrille Krul and Evita van de Steeg, co-initiators of VitalTissue
Animal free is better for both humans and animals
Every year, around 450,000 experimental animals are still used in the Netherlands, for instance, to assess the safety of medicines and food products. However, humans are not animals, and it is therefore not surprising that 9 out of 10 medicines developed through animal experiments ultimately prove ineffective for humans.
Cyrille Krul adds, “As health researchers, we prefer to conduct experiments that closely resemble the human situation. Our expectation is that research using fresh human tissue can be better translated to humans, which can lead to faster development of new treatments.”
If you want to go far, go together
From the very beginning, we have been involved in this wonderful project. Together with representatives from various organizations, such as educational institutions, hospitals, and companies, we ensure the greatest possible impact. Over the next few years, we, along with ZonMw, the ministries of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality, Health, Welfare, and Sport, Education, Culture, and Science, and the independent Dutch tissue bank ETB-BISLIFE, will jointly finance this fantastic development.