Internet technology to replace animal
experiments
Developed in close cooperation between Transinsight, Dresden, and the German
Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, the knowledge-based semantic search engine http://www.go3r.org/ is now available online. It enables
information transparency for the prevention of animal testing.
In only four months development time, Transinsight from
Dresden, Germany, succeeded in making available online Go3R,
the worldwide first knowledge-based search engine for
alternative methods to animal experiments. Via http://www.GO3R.org, scientists from all over the world can
take advantage of the benefits of semantic searches for the
area of alternative methods in accordance with the 3Rs
principle. The Search engine can from now on used as Beta
version.
The so-called 3Rs principle developed by Russell and Burch in
1959 stands for Replacement, Reduction and Refinement. It
describes scientific methods that can either replace animal
experiments, or reduce animal numbers or refine the suffering of the animals during the procedures. In the European Union,
compliance with the 3Rs principle is legally required. In
accordance with the EU Laboratory Animal Directive, just as
with the German Animal Welfare Act, animal experiments may
only be performed if the scientific goal pursued cannot be
achieved by any other means, i.e. in totally non-animal
procedures, or in methods using fewer animals or entailing
less animal suffering.
In practice, however, this legal requirement oftentimes is not
met, because the scientists and the responsible authorities
are unaware of 3Rs alternatives that would exist to the
respective foreseen animal experiment. Queries for alternative
methods are time consuming and cumbersome, and this situation
has possibly even become worse in the era of the internet.
Additionally, at the end of a search, it remains unclear
whether all relevant information sought for was indeed
retrieved. This is where the search engine Go3R sets in. "With Go3R, search retrievals for alternatives to animal
experiments become transparent and they are available without
delay. Time savings of 90 percent and more are already
possible with the first prototype of the search engine",
explains Dr. Michael R. Alvers, CEO and Co-Founder of
Transinsight. "With our information technology Go3R, we are
pleased to be able to present scientists with a tool that
enables them to determine the indispensability of animal
experiments more reliably. Go3R promotes the 3Rs principle. In
the medium term, this will lead to a significant reduction of
animal experiments. Achieving a world with less and less
animal experiments is the worthwhile goal that Transinsight is
happy to make a contribution to with all its might", says
Alvers.
Go3R was developed in cooperation with scientists from the
Technical University Dresden and the National German Centre
for Documentation and Evaluation of Alternatives to Animal
Experiments (ZEBET) at the German Federal Institute for Risk
Assessment in Berlin. With its expertise in the area of
alternative methods, ZEBET has provided the specialist know
how for the search machine. "Already today, Germany is leading in the area of development
of alternative methods. The new search engine will make a contribution further to promote Germany’s international
reputation. The combination of ZEBET’s expertise – acquired
over decades – with latest semantic search technologies will
lead to a new generation of science as regards avoidance of
animal experiments", declares Professor Dr. Horst Spielmann,
international scientist of excellence in the area of
alternative methods and for many years, Head of ZEBET.
In a next step, the search engine http://www.GO3R.org is now
being extended to become a community platform enabling global cooperation without language barriers. It is the goal of the
investment to achieve maximum availability of information with
simultaneous transparency for scientists and researchers all
over the world. The service is available free of charge.