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Press Release: Launch of New Scientific Organisation to End Animal Testing
15th October 2020
Dr Aysha Akhtar
Dr Jarrod Bailey
Two science Fellows of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics (OCAE) are launching a new scientific organisation to end animal testing.
Center for Contemporary Sciences (CCS) is an independent nonprofit organisation that is advancing human-specific research methods and testing to improve lives. The organisation will serve as a hub of the latest information, resources and innovation in the biomedical field.
“Our end goal is to help create a biomedical research paradigm that delivers safe and effective therapies faster and more efficiently. By doing so, we can deliver true hope to patients suffering from currently untreatable diseases, and to their families. We can heal ourselves without harming animals and do so more quickly,” shared Dr. Aysha Akhtar, President and CEO of CCS, and a Fellow of the OCAE.
One of the ways they hope to enrich the scientific field is through collaboration. CCS partners with scientists, corporations, government agencies and academia to further scientific discovery. The organisation is pioneering the transition to innovative human-specific medical research and testing methods including 3D human-tissue culture, human stem-cells, organ-and body-on-a-chip methods, human spheroids and organoids, bioprinting, and more.
“It is so good that scientists are coming together to pioneer ethical science. We need to show that there can be scientific progress without harming sentient animals,” said the Revd Professor Andrew Linzey, Director of the OCAE.
As one of their first initiatives, the Center for Contemporary Sciences is building several databases to become the “go-to” resource for the latest innovations within the biomedical field.
“Greater than 90% of drugs and vaccines fail in human clinical trials, despite showing signs of safety and efficacy in animal and traditional laboratory tests. Human-specific research approaches are, by their nature, more predictive of human biology and disease than nonhuman methods,” added Dr. Jarrod Bailey, Fellow of the OCAE and Director of Science and Technology at CCS.
“We therefore need, urgently, to shift the focus of biomedical research and testing away from animals and towards hi-tech, cutting-edge human-based methods.”
Notes for editors
- The Center for Contemporary Sciences (CCS) is a nonprofit, advancing human-specific research methods and testing to improve lives through education, funding and championing scientific innovation. CCS is pioneering a paradigm shift towards innovative, evidence-based research methods that are rooted in human biology. It brings together scientists, policy makers, investors, and entrepreneurs to transform the biomedical sciences and cultivate collaboration within the biomedical field across multiple disciplines. Contact: Media@ContemporarySciences.org
- The Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics is an independent centre pioneering ethical perspectives on animals through academic research, teaching, and publication. It comprises more than one hundred academic fellows drawn from the sciences and the humanities. Professor Andrew Linzey and Dr Clair Linzey are editors of The Ethical Case Against Animal Experiments, published by the University of Illinois Press.