Catherine Robin receives grant for reducing animal experiments

Catherine Robin, group leader at the Hubrecht Institute, has received a grant from the KNAW 3R-fund. This fund supports research aimed at reducing, refining, or replacing the use of animals in scientific studies. Robin’s laboratory will use the grant to develop assays based on human induced pluripotent stem cells to study and manipulate the production of blood (stem) cells in the laboratory.

Blood stem cells, also known as hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), are essential for generating new blood cells, which are crucial for protecting the body against infections, low oxygen levels, and bleeding. Defective HSCs can lead to various blood-related diseases and cancers. While transplanting healthy HSCs can cure many patients, the availability of matching donors is limited, especially as the number of transplantation procedures increases each year. Healthy transplantable HSCs produced in the laboratory is considered as the future strategy to provide virtually all patients with a curative therapy. However, despite recent advancements, lab-grown HSCs currently lack the ability to sustain a lifelong supply of blood cells because they lack essential properties like self-renewal and the ability to produce all types of blood cells.

Mimicking the embryonic aorta

To improve lab production, the Robin group aims to replicate the conditions of the embryonic aorta, the natural birthplace of HSCs, including its three-dimensional structure, cellular composition, and biochemical and physical properties. The KNAW 3R-fund will support the creation of a new laboratory system that mimics these conditions using human cells. This system could revolutionize HSC research, replace the need for animals in experiments, and aid in the development of clinically safe, lab-grown HSCs for research and patients’ treatments.

3R’s: Reduce, refine, replace

Robin’s project aims to reduce the number of embryos needed for research and potentially eliminate the need for animals in this area, aligning with the 3R principles of the KNAW – replace, refine, and reduce the use of experimental animals. This alignment with the 3R policy is why the project was awarded a grant from the KNAW 3R-fund.