Method avoiding animal testing awarded at University of Sydney

A new method of studying cerebral malaria that avoids animal testing has been recognised by an award at the University of Sydney.

Professor Georges Grau, of the Department of Pathology at Sydney Medical School, developed an in vitro model to study the disease to replace the customary method of inoculating mice with a rodent-specific malaria parasite.

Focusing on one particular aspect of cerebral malaria, specifically the lesions in small brain blood vessels, Professor Grau was able to avoid testing on animals and could use human cells obtained with informed consent instead.

His system has also been taken up by researchers in the USA and Europe, and has been adapted to the study of other diseases of the brain including viral encephalitis, tumour metastasis, multiple sclerosis and cryptococcal meningitis.

Professor Grau’s work has been recognised with the university’s inaugural Award for the Reduction of Use of Animals in Research. The first of its kind from an Australian research institution, the award is designed to encourage researchers to think about how they can reduce or replace animal testing altogether.