Upcoming Seminars
On September 30, 2026, at 2:00 p.m., we are pleased to welcome this year’s recipients of the State Prize for the Promotion of Alternatives to Animal Testing, Eva Reihs and Mario Rothbauer, to our online seminar series. In their presentations, they will provide us with insights into the topic of “organ-on-a-chip.”.
Beyond the Chip: Lessons from the Past, Challenges for the Future - Mario Rothbauer
3R in Practice: A Fully Human Model of the Osteoarthritic Synovium - Eva Reihs
We are looking forward to your participation.
Small Changes, Lasting Impacts - How Training and Enrichment Build Resilience and Improve Laboratory Animal Welfare
On October 12, 2026, at 10:00 a.m., we will hold our online seminar on training and enrichment for laboratory animals. Anna Oblasser from the Animal Training Center will discuss how even small changes can have a significant impact on the well-being of laboratory animals.
We look forward to your participation.
Past Seminars
Digital Innovation for Animal Welfare
Our next online seminar on Digital Innovation and its contribution to animal welfare took place on November 27, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. Marc Zünd (CEO of Vigilitech AG) and Mirko Lampe (CEO and co-founder of iMouse GmbH) presented their innovations:
- Monitoring Matters: From Vital Signs to Better Research – The Role of Intraoperative Monitoring in Rodent Surgery (Marc Zünd, Vigilitech AG)
- Refinement in Focus: Bias Reduction through iMouse Retrofit for Modern Animal Husbandry (Janine Kah & Mirko Lampe, iMouse GmbH)
Focus Event on Reducing Surplus Animals - Colony Management
Patrick Bilic from the Medical University of Vienna (Core Facility Laboratory Animal Breeding and Husbandry) and Katharina Bauer from ISTA gave the following lectures on May 13, 2025 on the topic of Reduction of Surplus Animals - Colony Management:
- Data-Driven Breeding: Reducing Surplus Laboratory Animals Through Smart Planning - Patrick Bilic
Presentation of Patric Bilic
- The Work of a Colony Manager and Its Importance for The Scientist - Katharina Bauer
Presentation of Katharina Bauer
The JRC (Joint Research Center) of the European Commission introduces itself and its activities
On May 6 at 10:00 a.m., Clemens Wittwehr and Elisbet Berggren will present the Joint Research Center of the European Commission and its work. The following presentations will be given in this online seminar:
- The Joint Research Centre – the scientific arm of the European Commission - Clemens Wittwehr
Presentation of Clemens Wittwehr
- The European Commission roadmap for phasing out animal testing in chemical safety assessments - Elisabet Berggren
Presentation of Elisabet Berggren
Anaesthesia and analgesia in mice in severe experimental procedures
Dr.med.vet. Iris Wiederstein-Grasser (Diplomate ECVAA, EBVS® - European Specialist in Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia) from the Division of Biomedical Research at the Medical University of Graz gave a lecture on November 22, 2024 at 10:00 am on anesthesia and analgesia in mice in animal experiments with severity level "severe".
Zebrafish Welfare Assessment – Why Their Well-being Matters
Dr. Beate Hoppe, The Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) gave a lecture on April 9 at 11:00 a.m. on the assessment of welfare in zebrafish.
Presicion Cut Organ Slices
Dr.rer.nat. Melina Hardt, MSc from the Medical University of Graz will give a lecture on Presicion Cut Organ Slices on October 25, 2024 at 10:00 am.
Water Chemistry in Aquatic Husbandry
Matthias Nowak from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) will give a lecture on water chemistry in aquatic husbandry on September 30, 2024 at 10:00 am.
Current evidence of relative humidity’s impact on laboratory animal welfare, physiology and pathology
Hannah Louise Zakariassen Postdoc, PhD, DVM from Scanbur will give an online lecture on the influence of relative humidity on the well-being, physiology and pathology of laboratory animals on August 28, 2024 at 2:00 pm.
Of mice and men: New approaches to researching lung macrophages and respiratory tract infections
Anna-Dorothea Gorki, Phd, this year's winner of the State Prize for the Promotion of Alternative Methods to Animal Experiments, will present her lung cell culture model as part of our online seminar series on July 29, 2024 at 3 p.m..
Language: German
The INS and OUTS of termination criteria – according to the Commission for Animal Experimentation
During this event, the Commission's recommendation on the establishment of termination criteria in project applications was presented by Ms. Ruth Haller, DVM. This statement is intended to serve as an aid in the preparation of future animal testing applications, as it can be used as a reference point for further training and as a starting point for literature searches. We would like to express our sincere thanks for this presentation.
Language: German
Tools for Reduction of Laboratory Animals in Biomedical Research
The focus of this event was entirely on reducing the number of animals used in experiments. Prof. Georg Heinze from the Medical University presented the GINGER (General Simulation-Interpolation Tool for Designing Multigroup Experiments) tool, which is designed to enable more efficient planning of multi-group animal experiments. Prof. Dr. Thorsten Buch from the University of Zurich presented the Breeding Calculator, which can be used to optimize breeding and thus reduce surplus animals. We would like to thank them for these presentations.
Towards replacement of animal-derived components in physiologically relevant human in vitro models
Informative presentations were given by researchers from the Medical Universities of Graz and Innsbruck as well as from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna about alternative possibilities to the use of animals or animal products in research.
Severe Suffering in Animal Experiments and How to Refine
In agreement with the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, the Austrian 3R Center annually dedicates itself to certain key topics. This event focusses on severe suffering in animal experiments and how to refine animal experiments of severe suffering.
Unused surplus animals from laboratory
In agreement with the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, the Austrian 3R Center annually dedicates itself to certain key topics. This event focusses on non-used animals from laboratory animal breeding.
Strategies to improve yeast-based production of antibody molecules
Molecular biotechnology determines and describes the molecular basis of biotechnological production processes. Among these products, recombinant proteins (e.g., biotherapeutics and industrial enzymes) are of outstanding importance. The yeast Pichia pastoris (syn. Komagataella spp) has developed into an efficient host for recombinant protein production. Assoc. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Brigitte Gasser gave us an insight into her work in this installment of our online seminar series. Thank you very much for this presentation.
Characterisation of a Toxin-induced Leaky-Gut Model in a 3D organ-on-a chip system
First experiences with the 3-lane Organoplate system (Mimetas)
The Fusarium toxin deoxynivalenol (DON) is the most common mycotoxin found in food and feed. It is rapidly absorbed and distributed, meaning that it can be found in human body fluids such as urine and breast milk across the entire population. Depending on the dose and duration, exposure to DON initially leads to intestinal symptoms such as barrier disorders and, beyond that, to neurological, reproductive, and immunological disorders. Until now, the effects of the toxin have often been studied in animal and conventional cell culture models, with the known disadvantages. At FH JOANNEUM, Mag.Dr. Monika Riederer and her team investigated the effects of DON on the intestinal barrier in a commercially available 3D intestinal chip model that simulates intestinal flow, the extracellular matrix, and membrane-free compartmentalization. We would like to thank them for this informative presentation.
Charles River | Scientific Reproducibility, Biosecurity and the 3Rs
When managing animal colonies one question often arises: when does it make sense to breed models in-house, and when is it best to obtain them from a qualified vendor? To this end we are pleased to announce that we are co-hosting an online seminar with Charles River on December 14, 2021 that will address this question as well as the associated considerations.
A Challenging Way to Animal Free Cell Culture
The recording of the last episode of our seminar series is now available online! Many thanks to Priv.-Doz. Mag. Dr. Claudia Bernecker and Assoz. Prof. Priv.-Doz. Mag. Dr. Beate Rinner for their excellent presentation!
3R-supporting approaches improving the validity of biomedical studies
Together with Tecniplast, the RepRefRed Society and the Austrian 3R Center hosted a joint event on animal welfare on September 14. The presentations covered a wide range of 3R-supporting measures and methods designed to improve future biomedical studies.
Refinement of Anaesthesia in Laboratory
Animals Anaesthesia and analgesia in laboratory animals can be a challenge: requirements of the experiment may collide with welfare and ideal management of the individual animal. Therefore, a balance between the interaction of anaesthetics with the data and an adequate level of anaesthesia with stable vital parameters needs to be established. Priv.-Doz. Dr.med.vet. Dipl.ACVAA Eva Eberspächer-Schweda (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna) presented us possible improvements in laboratory animal anesthesia and analgesia in the seventh lecture of our online seminar series.
Circumventing immunization by in vitro directed evolution and selection of human antibodies from large surface display libraries
With the recommendation of the EURL ECVAM (ESAC) torwards an animal free antibody generation methods like the phage display are increasingly moving into the focus. Univ. Prof. DI Dr. Florian Rüker (Head of Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, BOKU) was presenting us the method of phage display and its pros and cons in the sixth talk of our online seminar series.
Turning apples into oranges - Towards a transparent methodology for the harm-benefit analysis
Univ. Prof. Dr. Herwig Grimm (Head of the Department Ethics and Human-Animal Studies at the Messerli Research Institute in Vienna) was adressing the pros and cons of various approaches to the harm-benefit analysis (HBA) in the fifth talk of our online seminar series. Comparing the main arguments of both metric and the discourse model he outlined a strategy how one could combine these strategies to facilitate evaluation.
Importance of genetic monitoring, preservation and background definition of mouse strains and the need to implement better practices in any animal facility
In our fourth talk Urte Jaeh (EU Scientific Service Support Manager, Charles River) informed about strategies on how to improve genetic monitoring, archiving and background definition of various mouse strains in order to increase the robustness of scientific results. We especially recommend this talk to everyone involved in the breeding management of animal facilities! Thank you for your insights!
Old pills, new opportunities: Optimizing human infection models for drug repurposing
In the third episode of the RepRefRed online seminar series, Prof. Dr. Doris Wilflingseder, Deputy Director at the Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology at the Medical University of Innsbruck and Vice President of the RepRefRed Society, gave a lecture on the necessity of human high-throughput in-vitro infection models. The audience was able to gain interesting insights into the current work of Prof. Dr. Wilflingseder's team, which - as soon as the work has been published in the near future - will be available as a recording as usual. Thank you very much for this great lecture!
Advanced 3D tissue culture – from spheroids in bioreactors to 3D bioprinted human tissue on chip
In the second episode of our RepRefRed-Online-Seminar-Series, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Michael Ausserlechner from the Medical University of Innsbruck gave the audience an insight into 3D- Bioprinting, the pitfalls of 2D-cell cultures and animal experiments in terms of translatability and how the techniques developed by his team could further improve replacement methods for animals experiments. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Experimental Replications in Animal Trials
In the first episode of our new RepRefRed-Online-Seminar-Series Assoc. Prof. Dr. Florian Frommlet from the Medical University of Vienna held a talk on the increasingly important subject of reproducibility of scientific results in animal trials during preclinical research. Using various statistical approaches he tested common practices for methodological flaws and gave recommendations on how to improve reproducibility in animal trials. This way detecting and therefore preventing errors from happening during the planning stage of study design should become easier, which will eventually lead to less animals used in preclinical research. Thank you for your interesting talk!
Biomodellen (The 3R Society)
Postfach 0014
A-8036 Graz