Toward a human-focus paradigm in health research
February 6, 2026
The shift towards animal-free methods is accelerating as collaboration across scientific, regulatory, industrial, and policy sectors continues. With funding from Humane World for Animals, the BioMed21 Collaboration has joined with Utrecht University to create an open-access, e-learning course in human-centered experimental design. Our new course will enable investigators to develop animal-free research strategies and leverage state-of-the-art tools in predictive human biology.
November 19, 2025
Last year, BioMed21 bought together global experts at the forefront of biomedical innovation for our landmark science policy workshop in Brussels. Attendees included representatives from the European Commission, the European Innovation Council, the European Public Health Association, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, and many others, all united to rethink how human-centric methods and tools should be leveraged to support biomedical research in the EU. [Read more…]
November 13, 2024
Exciting News! We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our brand-new BioMed21 LinkedIn Page!
Our journey began with a review publication in 2015, highlighting the limitations of current biomedical research paradigms built on animal models. Since then, our international team of scientists, policy specialists, and communication experts has been steadfast in our commitment to advancing and promoting human-centric nonanimal research.
Whilst European calls for research proposals have encouraged collaborative, interdisciplinary partnerships to investigate non-communicable and infectious diseases in the EU, the prevalence and impact of various diseases has seen little decrease. Public health challenges are further exacerbated by drug attrition rates remaining high. It has therefore never been more critical for the retrospective evaluation and analysis of past initiatives, to support innovative strategies for future research policy interventions.
Whilst European calls for research proposals have encouraged collaborative, interdisciplinary partnerships to investigate non-communicable and infectious diseases in the EU, the prevalence and impact of various diseases has seen little decrease. Public health challenges are further exacerbated by drug attrition rates remaining high. It has therefore never been more critical for the retrospective evaluation and analysis of past initiatives, to support innovative strategies for future research policy interventions.
In a newly published paper, we present the results of our multiparty survey and online roundtable discussion in November 2023, which bought together representatives of European institutions, public health organizations, biobank, pharma, and research institutes. Discussion areas included identifying potential needs for consideration in the EU research and policy agenda, exploring strategies to enhance the translational impact of EU-funded research, and defining factors contributing to the persistent lack of reduction in disease prevalence and incidence.
Read our paper here to learn about the survey findings, roundtable discussions, and the actionable recommendations for supporting scientific progress through interdisciplinary collaboration in the EU. These recommendations promise to enhance the translatability of public health and biomedical research outputs and their implementation into transformative policies.
Our actionable proposals cover the scope of public health challenges and unmet biomedical research needs, prevention and early diagnosis, public awareness, education and training for healthcare professionals, health impacts of environmental pollution, clinical trial design, data quality and data sharing, innovative human-centric research, and multidisciplinary efforts. The more we learn together, the more we reflect on our shared knowledge base and the more we collaborate, the better off we’ll be.
8 April 2024
Human-centric approaches such as microphysiological systems and in silico methods have shown great promise in developing our understanding of human biology and disease, but can the use of these novel methods be wholly embraced within a prevailing research paradigm that has been both built upon and dominated by animal models?
