Transition to Animal Free Innovations (TPI) Helpathon 9

Description

A big thank you to the thirty helpers who participated in the 9th Helpathon!

Before you read any further, spread the word: it is possible to use animal free antibodies and Animal Free Research UK is bringing a database online very soon! The development has been completed, they are currently on boarding suppliers. The launching date has not been set yet.

It was fascinating to discover how, over millions of years, antibodies have developed. How our bodies create antibodies sticking to particular molecules in particular cells, transforming themselves by muting their genetic material to attune and stick even more. The more an antibody sticks, the better our body can deal with particular unwanted cells. Ingeniously, this natural ability is used to trace and visualize cells in in- vitro biomedical research. Even more we can characterize existing antibodies and combine them to create new ones that stick even better.

This Helpathon team put significant effort into generating practical and feasible ideas to help Juan Garcia-Vallejo explore, how his and other universities can transition their facilities towards animal-free antibodies. Juan is an experienced immunologist and director of the cutting-edge O2 Flow facility for cytometry and cell sorting at the Amsterdam VU University Medical Center.

Six weeks after the Helpathon Juan and his team has taken up most of the suggested action:

✅ The green fridge
As communicating existing possibilities is key, they imagined a university campus Green Team Ambassadors picking up the responsibility of sharing what animal free options are available now. This intrinsically motivated ambassador could also be running a green fridge full of samples from suppliers to be tried out now by researchers.

Juan: “We are already setting this up in our core facility and hopefully the animal-free antibody fridge will be already full with samples early 2024. Research analyst Taco Waaijman has been assigned this responsibility, and he is very efficiently reaching out to various companies to collect samples of animal-free antibodies.”
✅ Business plan
The Helpathon team also produced the beginning of a business plan for core facilities, such as Juan’s, to develop their own new animal-free antibodies that meet the specific needs of their researchers. This is not only perfectly feasible but also a worthwhile investment from a business perspective. Please find attached how Juan is incorporating these results

Period	25 Oct 2023 → 27 Oct 2023
Event type	Workshop
Location	Amsterdam, NetherlandsShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International