German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Germany

The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) is a federal agency within the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. The central task of BfR is the scientific risk assessment and its communication of food, feed, substances, and products as the basis for the consumer protection activities of the federal government. The BfR also performs the role of the German Centre for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R) and coordinates activities with the goal of reducing animal experiments to the necessary minimum and providing the best possible protection for laboratory animals. To achieve these goals, the Bf3R supports and participates in national and international research activities towards the development of alternative methods to animal experiments. By combining methods of microfluidics and tissue engineering, Organ-on-chip (OoC) systems bear great potential for reducing or replacing numerous animal experiments. Within the framework of EUROoC, we aim to develop a bone-on-chip to model bone development and regeneration. The system will be used for basic research and for toxicological studies.

Role in the project: Organ-on-a-Chip Developer, Bone tissue engineering, Alternative methods to animal experiments