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Professor J A Davies, University of Edinburgh

A tissue engineering approach to reduce animal use in renal development and renal organ replacement technology

Aim

Kidney disease is a major cause of human suffering, with approximately 40,000 people in the UK seriously affected each year. An estimated 15,000 mice are used in the UK each year for research into kidney regeneration and transplantation. This project aims to produce cells that can be grown in the laboratory indefinitely, and can be combined to produce embryonic kidneys in vitro without any animals being needed.

Method

The research will produce cell lines that can give rise to specific components of the kidney and that can produce a whole embryonic kidney when used in combination. Based on existing systems, cells lines will be produced by immortalising cells from embryonic kidneys and by the sorting and culturing of the different types of cells that make up the kidney.

Implications for the 3Rs

Development of these cells will not only greatly reduce the use of animals in this type of research, but will also provide a system in which doing experiments is much quicker, easier and cheaper.