Animal Use Alternatives (3Rs)

• Replacement refers to technologies or approaches that directly replace or avoid the use of animals. Replacement can be broken down into two categories: Full/Absolute and Partial/Relative.
  • Full/Absolute Replacement avoids the use of animals completely. Some examples include training manikins, human tissues and cells, computer models, and microphysiological systems. 
  • Partial/Relative Replacement still requires animal use, but the animals do not experience pain or distress during the study. Some examples include animal-derived tissue/organs for in vitro studies, zebrafish embryos, and transcutaneous electrical resistance test (TER).
• Reduction involves methods that help obtain comparable levels of information from the use of fewer animals. Scientists can reduce the number of animals used in research through strategies such as appropriate experimental design, correct statistical evaluation, and sharing resources/animals.
• Refinement refers to modifications of husbandry or experimental procedures that minimize or eliminate animals’ pain and distress and improve their welfare. A few examples of refinement are anesthetics and analgesics, humane animal handling, environmental enrichments, and humane endpoints.

Definitions from ‘The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique’ (1959) and the ‘Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals’ (2011).

• The National Cancer Institute funds the Cancer Tissue Engineering Collaborative: Enabling Biomimetic Tissue-Engineered Technologies for Cancer Research (R01 Clinical Trial Optional).
  • Deadline: June 5, 2022, and quarterly thereafter through February 2025
• ​​​​​​​The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) funds the Foundational and Applied Science Program, which supports grants focused on the welfare and well-being of agricultural animals (A1251). 
  • Deadline: December 31, 2024
• The American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) offers the Grants for Laboratory Animal Science program to enhance scientific knowledge in laboratory animal health and welfare through research. 
  • Deadline: February 1, 2025
• PETA Science Consortium International e.V., the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), and the Alternatives Research and Development Foundation's (ARDF) Recombinant Antibody Challenge offers free catalogue recombinant antibodies for use in research and testing. These antibodies would replace animal-derived monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies.
  • Deadline: Rolling deadline
• The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) offers Research and Project Awards (over £3,500) and Small Project and Travel Awards (up to £3,500) for research or other animal welfare projects or activities (e.g. educational initiatives, publications, purchase of equipment, etc.).
  • Deadline: Rolling deadline

The Annual 3Rs Symposium brings together investigators, veterinarians, animal care staff, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) members, and others involved in animal research to discuss 3Rs methods and techniques for a wide range of animals used in research. The 2013 through 2019 symposiums focused on social housing of laboratory animals, whereas symposiums after 2019 focused more generally on 3Rs topics. The symposium is jointly hosted by USDA's, NAL, Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC); NIH's Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW); the Johns Hopkins Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology; and the Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT).