ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ

Sue Gibbs, professor in skin degeneration at the VU Medical Centre in Amsterdam, has been awarded with the ‘Lef in het Lab’ prize (freely translated: Courage in the Lab Prize) of the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals, for her skin-on-a-chip model. The ‘Lef in het Lab’-prize is a yearly Dutch prize that is awarded to a researcher who shows excellent commitment to the implementation of the 3Rs in animal research.

With the skin-on-a-chip model it is possible to study complex skin processes and to test new drugs and therapies. The use of experimental animals for these types of research can thus be reduced or even abandoned. Sue Gibbs works with her team to develop a skin model in which skin cells, immune cells, vascular walls and connective tissue cells are brought together in a controlled way on a microchip. By bringing all these cells together, the artificial skin functions as a real skin. Gibbs hopes that in the future multiple organs on a chip can be brought together to mimic a whole human body.

The prize was awarded in collaboration with the 3Rs-Centre Utrecht Life Sciences (ULS) this year. The 3Rs-Centre ULS was responsible for the selection of four nominees for the prize. Out of these nominees the general public chose Sue Gibbs as a winner. The awards ceremony took place on April 23th.

One day after the awards ceremony, the Dutch radio program ‘de Kennis van Nu’ paid attention to the prize winner and the general use of animals in research. Besides Sue Gibbs, Coenraad Hendriksen (professor in alternatives for animal testing at the ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ of Utrecht) and Robert Passier, the winner of last year, participated in the discussion. The episode can be replayed here (only in Dutch) and starts at 2:40.