Engaging Researchers on Animal-Free 21st Century Science

Upcoming Events:

ERA21 Travel Award Winners Series: Martina Iulini and Dre’Von Dobson

Date: September 24, 2025
Time: 10 AM ET/4 PM CET via Zoom

Register

ERA21 offers travel awards to support researchers using human-based nonanimal methods. Join our awardees from the 2025 Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting to hear about their work and the research they presented at the conference.

• Toward sustainable immunotoxicology: an animal-free culture medium model for TD and TI antibody response assay - Martina Iulini, PharmD, PhD
• The Effects of Controlled Wood Smoke Exposure on Markers of Thrombosis: A Pilot Study - Dre’Von Dobson, PhD

ERA21 Travel Award Winners Series: Zheng Tan & Alessandra Maria Anna Rando

Date: October 23, 2025
Time: 10 AM ET/4 PM CET via Zoom

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Join our awardees from the Microphysiological Systems World Summit 2025 to hear about their work and the research they presented at the conference.

• A human-based skin-lymphoreticular model-on-chip to emulate inflammatory skin conditions - Zheng Tan, PhD
• Tricompartmental in vitro models of the intestinal barrier for regulatory-compliant drug absorption studies - Alessandra Maria Anna Rando, MS

New Era of Biomedical Research: How Human-Specific Methods are Transforming Science

Date: Thursday, November 20, 2025
Time: 10 AM
Location: Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS), San Antonio, Texas (ABRCMS registration required)

Join us at the ABRCMS conference in November for a session featuring two experts in human-specific research methods: Dr. Itzy Morales Pantoja (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine) and Dr. Vineet Mahajan (University of Texas Medical Branch). Attendees will be introduced to human-specific research methods that are increasingly prioritized by federal agencies and embraced by many in the scientific community. This session will provide valuable insight into these new, innovative, methods for an audience ranging from undergraduate students through faculty interested in using or developing human-based methods.

• Dr. Itzy Morales Pantoja will present on Organoid Intelligence—a learning-in-a-dish model that integrates artificial intelligence with brain organoids derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). This platform shows promise for modeling cognition and could lead to better brain-like computers and therapies without the use of animals.
• Dr. Vineet Mahajan will discuss his human pregnancy-on-a-chip model. This human-cell based system includes all major fetomaternal uterine components that better model human pregnancy, and has the potential to reduce the use of animals in pregnancy research.

Past Events:

Hesperos Technology for Toxicology Research: From Development to Approval

On March 16, 2025, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, and Hesperos are partnered to host a free, hands-on workshop to showcase Hesperos technology and applications. A limited number of participants toured the facility and built three different human-on-a-chip models, heard from scientists working with the models, and sat down with leaders in the field, Drs. J Hickman and Thomas Hartung to discuss advancing human-specific non-animal approaches.

A Biotechnology Showcase in Human-specific Nonanimal Research and Testing

On February 14, 2025 a workshop at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting showcased cutting-edge, human-specific models, like organ-chip technologies, that offer more precise, translatable, effective, and ethical means of investigation. Participants learned about various human-focused approaches through live demonstrations, expert talks, and collaborative discussions, exploring the potential and practical applications of these advanced models. Featured presentations included: Emulate, InSphero, MIMETAS, MatTek, and the Wyss Institute at Harvard University.

The ERA21 Journal Club meets at conferences and provides a forum for early-career scientists, undergraduate, master’s, and PhD students to meet and discuss relevant research articles on human-relevant biomedical research, toxicology, and policy. 

Upcoming Events: 

American Society for Cellular and Computational Toxicology Annual Meeting, Gaithersburg, MD, USA 
October 22, 2025, 12-1 PM 
“The Future of 3D Brain Cultures in Developmental Neurotoxicity Testing”