Award-winning project by Charité and the BfR

Photo: LAGeSo/Dirk Laessig

10.12.2021
“Berlin Research Award for Alternatives to Animal Experiments”:  Award-winning project by Charité and the BfR

Brain City Berlin

On 9 December, Caroline Frädrich and Prof. Dr Josef Köhrle from the Institute of Experimental Endocrinology at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin along with Dr Kostja Renko from the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment received the Berlin state prize for the Promotion of Research on Replacement and Complementary Methods to Reduce Animal Testing in Research and Education. Using methods developed by the team, substances could be tested for their endocrine function without being used on animals.

Reducing, replacing and avoiding animal testing where possible and minimising the burden on animals is the aim of the “Berlin Research Award for Alternatives to Animal Experiments”. This year, the prize worth 30,000 euros was awarded to a project by the Charité ‒ Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). The prize winners, Caroline Frädrich and Prof. Dr Josef Köhrle work at the Institute of Experimental Endocrinology at the Charité. Dr Kostja Renko is a visiting scientist at the Charité and temporarily involved in the toxicological evaluation strategies expert group in the department of Experimental Toxicology and ZEBET at the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment.

As part of the project “Establishing a versatile high throughput screening platform to identify endocrine disruptors based on the Sandell-Kolthoff reaction”, the three scientists were able to develop a method with which thousands of substances could be tested for their endocrine function without the need for animal testing. The team searched for so-called endocrine disruptors: chemicals which inadvertently disrupt hormonal regulation in human and animal bodies - such as the regulation of metabolism through thyroid hormones. The enzyme “Deiodinase 2”, which was observed by the researchers, is essential for transforming the hormone thyroxine (T4) into the active thyroid hormone T3. Endocrine disruptors, medications and even food components can disrupt this transformation along with key processes that are dependent on thyroid hormones. This can in turn impact prenatal brain development as well as other essential metabolism processes throughout all phases of life.

Photo: LAGeSo/Dirk Laessig
(Left to right) Dr. Kostja Renko/BfR, Caroline Frädrich/Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Prof. Dr. Josef Köhrle/Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin, photo: LAGeSo/Dirk Laessig
(Left to right.) Dr. Rolf Hömke/Verband der forschenden Pharma-Unternehmen, Dr. Anne Zinke/LAGeSo, Dr. Kostja Renko/BfR, Caroline Frädrich/Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Prof. Dr. Josef Köhrle/Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Michael Thiel, President of LAGeSo, photo: LAGeSo/Dirk Laessig

With the help of the high throughput screening method developed by Caroline Frädrich, Prof. Dr Josef and Kostja Renko, such disruption factors can be quickly and effectively identified. The researchers used a “human” enzyme which was produced in a cell structure and therefore greatly resembled the situation in the human organism.

Since 2011, the “Berlin Research Award for Alternatives to Animal Experiments” has been biannually awarded by the State Office for Health and Social Affairs (LaGeSo) in collaboration with the Senate Department for Justice, Consumer Protection and Anti-discrimination and the Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (vfa) to research projects from Berlin and Brandenburg to promote the development of replacement and complementary methods to animal testing in research in accordance with the principles of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement) by Russel and Burch (1959). The award should also encourage further initiatives and promote the networking of scientists in this field. (vdo)