News story

Reducing the use of animals in research: apply for funding

Up to £2.7 million is available to organisations across 3 CRACK IT challenges to replace, refine and reduce the use of animals.

• From: Innovate UK
• Published: 3 August 2017
• Last updated: 8 August 2017 — See all updates

The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) plus sponsors will invest in collaborative projects by organisations that address some of the challenges posed by animal experiments.

This is designed to:

• fund collaborations between industry, academics and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
• minimise the use of animals in research
• support the development of marketable products or improve business processes

What you need to know

The centre is launching 3 challenges as part of its CRACK IT programme.

The 2017 2-phase challenges are:

Challenge 26 - DARTpaths

This challenge aims to develop an effective data strategy and data management structure to map the developmental and reproductive toxicity (DART) genes of different species. You should compare the effects of toxic compounds across species.

It is in 2 phases. There is up to £100,000 each for 3 projects in phase 1. Phase 2 has funding of up to £1 million. Shell and Syngenta are the sponsors.

Challenge 27 - Dosing for controlled exposure (DoCE)

This challenge aims to improve dosing methods and strategies for in vitro dose-responses and to encourage their uptake, application and use in risk-based decision making. This could offer the potential to eventually replace the need for in vivo animal studies.

It is in 2 phases. There is up to £100,000 each for 3 projects in phase 1. Phase 2 has funding of up to £1 million. Unilever and Shell are the sponsors.

The single-phase challenge is:

Challenge 28 - RespiraTox

In this challenge the aim is to develop a model that reliably predicts human respiratory irritation to chemicals. It should use in silico-based tools.

This is a single-phase competition. Up to £100,000 is available. The competition is sponsored by Shell.

The background

NC3Rs is an independent scientific organisation that supports the UK science base to find alternative applications to the use of animals in research and improve welfare.

The challenges are run using the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI), which is supported by Innovate UK.

Learn more and find other competitions from the SBRI.

Competition information

• the competition opens on 11 September 2017
• there are different deadlines depending on the competition you are applying into. These are:
  • 8 November 2017 at midday for the 2-phase DARTpaths and DoCE challenges
  • 15 November 2017 at midday for the single-phase RespiraTox challenge
• there will be a launch event on 7 September 2017 to find out more. You will need to register for the event

Get more information and apply in the 2-phase DARTpaths and DoCE challenges.

Get more information and apply in the single-phase RespiraTox challenge.

Published 3 August 2017
Last updated 8 August 2017 + show all updates

1. 8 August 2017

   Corrected the amount of funding available in the 2-phase competitions. These will fund up to 3 projects for up to £100,000 each in phase 1. This brings the total available across the 3 challenges to £2.7 million.

2. 3 August 2017

   First published.