University Education
In 2018 our proposal for a new course at the University of British Columbia (UBC) called ‘New Approach Methods in Biomedical Science’ was accepted, and in January 2020 the course was trialed as a 3rd and 4th year Integrated Sciences undergraduate course.
In 2020-2022 we aim to work with UBC to get the course advanced through the UBC Curriculum Committee and listed as a permanent undergraduate course. We will also explore the possibility of making the course mandatory for some UBC undergraduate science programs. We may also look at options for making the course available online.
Course Outline
This course explores the changing face of science and the emergence of non-animal methods (often called “new approach methods” or “alternative methods”) for research, testing and education, as well as the shifting regulatory landscape that requires that non-animal methods be developed and implemented. For scientific, economic and ethical reasons, cell-based, computational, and other non-animal study methods are being increasingly developed and implemented by the biomedical research community. Federal and international regulations and guidelines state that researchers proposing animal-based methods in research must demonstrate that they have considered the methods that can avoid or minimize animal use.
The development, validation, and use of non-animal methods in biomedical research, testing, and education is a fast-growing field. This course will introduce students to a range of non-animal methods available for research, testing and education, and explore their efficacy, how to identify, validate and implement them, and policies affecting their use.
At the completion of this course students will:
- understand the ethical (and in some cases, legal) obligations scientists have to avoid the use of animals wherever possible, or to reduce the number of animals used
- be familiar with the wide range of non-animal research, testing, and education techniques available
- understand laws, policies and other regulations in Canada and internationally that relate to non-animal methods
- be able to search for and identify appropriate non-animal methods using available databases and other resources
- be exposed to new academic career paths in “replacement science”
Course Topics
| WEEK 1 | Introduction to course and non-animal methods |
| WEEK 2 | Canadian and international policies |
| WEEK 3 | Developing and validating non-animal methods |
| WEEK 4 | Part 1: Adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) Part 2: Imaging, biomonitoring and microdosing in human volunteers |
| WEEK 5 | Part 1: Microphysiological systems (organ-on-a-chip, etc) Part 2: Tissue culture systems (simple monolayers, complex organoids, tissue engineering) |
| WEEK 6 | 3D bioprinting |
| WEEK 7 | Diabetes in a dish research case study |
| WEEK 8 | Part 1: in vitro methods for chemical screening and testing Part 2: High throughput methods |
| WEEK 9 | Computational methods |
| WEEK 10 | Non-animal methods in education |
| WEEK 11 | Part 1: Non-animal methods for antibody development Part 2: Replacing fetal bovine serum – new approaches |
| WEEK 12 | A roadmap to replacement: data mining, data sharing, databases etc. |
| WEEK 13 | Student presentations |
