Our Interdisciplinary Research Project
is pioneering the transition to innovative and ethical non-animal model systems in biomedical research.
We are doing this by integrating patient derived ex vivo models, engineered biomaterials, and synthetic biology tools into one model system which is continually assessed within ethical, legal, and societal frameworks.
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So,
what does this mean?
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Interdisciplinarity
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Our shared goal
At the core of our project is combining the expertise of various academic fields, including law, bioethics, biology, biochemistry, and biomedicine, to work towards a shared goal. By doing this, we are pioneering the way for more extensive research efforts in the future.
We want to develop an innovative, robust, and ethical model system to be used in biomedical research. For this, we want to combine previously separate methods into one robust model. In addition, we are making sure that from the very beginning, our model is continually assessed within ethical, legal, and societal frameworks.
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Our model system for biomedical research
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Our ethical, societal, and legal efforts
The model system we are developing contains a unique combination of methods and tools. These include using tissue material donated by cancer patients, bioengineered materials (gels) to grow these ex vivo cultures in, synthetic biology tools (optogenetics) to dynamically modify gene expression and state-of-the art spatial transcriptomics.
There is considerable ethical and regulatory imperative for transitioning to using non-animal model systems in research. We want to showcase how societal, ethical, and legal reflection is integrated into biomedical research and how it can advance in parallel with it.
ORGANOIDS • CANCER BIOLOGY • NON-ANIMAL METHODS • SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY • BIOMATERIALS CHEMISTRY • OPTOGENETICS• BIOETHICS • ANIMAL LAW • SPATIAL TRANSCRIPTOMICS •
And,
who are we?
We are a group of innovative experts from various fields and diverse backgrounds. You can learn more about us here.
Our Research Fields
In HUMAN-Bio, we integrate the expertise of various academic fields to promote the transition to fully human, more clinically relevant and ethical biomedical models. Below you can find the research fields we are combining, and soon, also learn more about them.
Cancer Biology
Engineered Biomaterials
Synthetic Biology
Animal Law
Animal law focuses on the legal status and protection of animals and additionally engages in theoretical and philosophical questions such as animal status, fundamental rights and rhetoric. Running through much of this work is a concern with legal personhood: how the law decides which entities count as holders of rights and duties, and what follows for those it places outside that category. In HUMAN-Bio, the experts of the regulatory frameworks of animal law - namely Directive 2010/63/EU, its Finnish implementation, and the 3Rs - answer practical questions such as how far these regulatory instruments constrain or, in fact, enable the shift to human-based methods. instruments constrain or in fact enable the shift to human-based methods. The personhood and agency work bears on the project from another angle as well: as human-derived models grow more sophisticated, the question of what status such constructs should have is one the law has no settled answer to.
Bioethics
Philosophy of science examines how scientific knowledge is produced, validated, and applied, addressing questions about evidence, models, explanation, and scientific reasoning. Bioethics explores the moral and societal implications of advances in biology, medicine, and biotechnology, focusing on values such as autonomy, justice, responsibility, and welfare. At HUMAN-Ethos work package, these perspectives are integrated to study the ontological and ethical status of organoid and organ-on-chips models. In this context, philosophy of science and bioethics help evaluate the reliability, relevance, and ethical acceptability of human-derived models as alternatives to animal experimentation.
Latest Insights
Explore our recent team updates and scientific perspectives here