TY - JOUR A1 - Vinken, Mathieu A1 - Grimm, Daniela A1 - Baatout, Sarah A1 - Baselet, Bjorn A1 - Beheshti, Afshin A1 - Braun, Markus A1 - Carstens, Anna Catharina A1 - Casaletto, James A. A1 - Cools, Ben A1 - Costes, Sylvain V. A1 - De Meulemeester, Phoebe A1 - Doruk, Bartu A1 - Eyal, Sara A1 - Ferreira, Miguel J. S. A1 - Miranda, Silvana A1 - Hahn, Christiane A1 - Akyuz, Sinem Helvacioglu A1 - Herbert, Stefan A1 - Krepkiy, Dmitriy A1 - Lichterfeld, Yannik A1 - Liemersdorf, Christian A1 - Marcus, Krüger A1 - Marchal, Shannon A1 - Ritz, Jette A1 - Schmakeit, Theresa A1 - Stenuit, Hilde A1 - Tabury, Kevin A1 - Trittel, Torsten A1 - Wehland, Markus A1 - Zhang, Yu Shrike A1 - Putt, Karson S. A1 - Zhang, Zhong-Yin A1 - Tagle, Danilo A. T1 - Taking the 3Rs to a higher level: replacement and reduction of animal testing in life sciences in space research JF - Biotechnology advances N2 - Human settlements on the Moon, crewed missions to Mars and space tourism will become a reality in the next few decades. Human presence in space, especially for extended periods of time, will therefore steeply increase. However, despite more than 60 years of spaceflight, the mechanisms underlying the effects of the space environment on human physiology are still not fully understood. Animals, ranging in complexity from flies to monkeys, have played a pioneering role in understanding the (patho)physiological outcome of critical environmental factors in space, in particular altered gravity and cosmic radiation. The use of animals in biomedical research is increasingly being criticized because of ethical reasons and limited human relevance. Driven by the 3Rs concept, calling for replacement, reduction and refinement of animal experimentation, major efforts have been focused in the past decades on the development of alternative methods that fully bypass animal testing or so-called new approach methodologies. These new approach methodologies range from simple monolayer cultures of individual primary or stem cells all up to bioprinted 3D organoids and microfluidic chips that recapitulate the complex cellular architecture of organs. Other approaches applied in life sciences in space research contribute to the reduction of animal experimentation. These include methods to mimic space conditions on Earth, such as microgravity and radiation simulators, as well as tools to support the processing, analysis or application of testing results obtained in life sciences in space research, including systems biology, live-cell, high-content and real-time analysis, high-throughput analysis, artificial intelligence and digital twins. The present paper provides an in-depth overview of such methods to replace or reduce animal testing in life sciences in space research. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biotechadv.2025.108574 VL - 81 IS - 7/8 PB - Elsevier ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wehland, Markus A1 - Corydon, Thomas J. A1 - González-Torres, Luis Fernando A1 - Abdelfattah, Fatima A1 - Sahana, Jayashree A1 - Schulz, Herbert A1 - Mushunuri, Ashwini A1 - Burenkova, Hanna A1 - Wuest, Simon L. A1 - Krüger, Marcus A1 - Kraus, Armin A1 - Grimm, Daniela T1 - New Knowledge About Tissue Engineering Under Microgravity Conditions in Space and on Earth JF - International Journal of Molecular Sciences N2 - Microgravity (µg)-generated three-dimensional (3D) multicellular aggregates can serve as models of tissue and disease development. They are relevant in the fields of cancer and in vitro metastasis or regenerative medicine (tissue engineering). Driven by the 3R concept—replacement, reduction, and refinement of animal testing—µg-exposure of human cells represents a new alternative method that avoids animal experiments entirely. New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) are used in biomedical research, pharmacology, toxicology, cancer research, radiotherapy, and translational regenerative medicine. Various types of human cells grow as 3D spheroids or organoids when exposed to µg-conditions provided by µg simulating instruments on Earth. Examples for such µg-simulators are the Rotating Wall Vessel, the Random Positioning Machine, and the 2D or 3D clinostat. This review summarizes the most recent literature focusing on µg-engineered tissues. We are discussing all reports examining different tumor cell types from breast, lung, thyroid, prostate, and gastrointestinal cancers. Moreover, we are focusing on µg-generated spheroids and organoids derived from healthy cells like chondrocytes, stem cells, bone cells, endothelial cells, and cardiovascular cells. The obtained data from NAMs and µg-experiments clearly imply that they can support translational medicine on Earth. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27010341 VL - 27 IS - 1 PB - MDPI ER -