Published: 06-12-2017 12:11 | Updated: 06-12-2017 12:14

Swetox receives European prize for more humane animal testing method

Two colleagues at Swetox, a national research centre in chemicals, health and environment, have been awarded € 6,000 for having developed a new more humane method of performing blood tests on rats and mice.

The prize is presented by EPAA (the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing), which is a collaboration between the European Commission and the largest companies in the pharmaceuticals and chemicals sectors.

Mattias Öberg, a lecturer at the Institute of Environmental Medicine and Swetox, works together with his prize-winning colleague at the Unit of Toxicological Sciences at Karolinska Institutet, which constitutes a key part of Swetox. He describes in his blog how during the course of their work at the Unit they have developed a new approach that means blood tests can be performed on laboratory animals without the animals needing to be strapped down, something which until now has been common practice.

The prize-giving ceremony took place in Brussels on 22 November.

Swetox – the Swedish Toxicology Sciences Research Center – is a collaboration between eleven Swedish universities in toxicological research and training.