3Rs Training Webinar: Animal-Free Cell Culture - Replacing Fetal Bovine Serum

Описание: As part of the 3Rs Training Webinar series led by Dr. Kathrin Herrmann, Director of the Education Program at the Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT), this session explored the global shift toward animal-free, sustainable cell culture systems.

Dr. Herrmann was joined by Tilo Weber, Scientific Officer at the Animal Welfare Academy of the German Animal Welfare Foundation, who shared the latest scientific and ethical insights into serum-free and chemically defined media. The discussion highlighted how transitioning away from FBS can improve reproducibility and data quality while supporting ethical and responsible research aligned with the principles of humane science.

For decades, cell culture had been central to biomedical and biotechnological progress, yet most cell lines continued to rely on FBS—an animal-derived supplement with serious ethical, safety, and reproducibility concerns. Harvested from bovine fetuses as a byproduct of slaughter, FBS raised both animal welfare and scientific validity issues. At the same time, the global scientific community had increasingly recognized the need for well-defined, sustainable, and xeno-free alternatives.
In his presentation, Weber highlighted the application of animal-free media across multiple domains, including:

Stem cell research
Complex in vitro models
Cultivated meat production
Biotechnological production
Toxicological testing
Cryopreservation

Furthermore, Weber introduced the Oredsson Universal Replacement Medium (OUR Medium), a fully defined, xeno-free substitute for FBS developed in collaboration with Lund University, Sweden.

This timely presentation provided a comprehensive overview of the scientific, ethical, and regulatory case for FBS replacement and explored how defined animal-free media can strengthen reproducibility, safety, and global acceptance of cell-based systems.

Key topics covered included:
The case against FBS: Why its continued use poses ethical, safety, and scientific challenges
Animal-free innovation: How defined, xeno-free media improve reproducibility and reliability in research
Applications in practice: Case studies in stem cell science, toxicology, biotechnology, and cultivated meat
Barriers to transition: Technical, educational, and regulatory hurdles slowing adoption
A roadmap forward: What is needed to scale up animal-free media globally and accelerate the shift to humane cell culture
The session demonstrated how moving beyond FBS can transform cell culture into a fully animal-free, scientifically robust practice that benefits research, industry, and society.

See: Weber, T., Malakpour Permlid, A., Chary, A., D'Alessandro, V., Haut, L., Seufert, S., ... & Oredsson, S. (2025). Fetal bovine serum: how to leave it behind in the pursuit of more reliable science. Frontiers in Toxicology, 7, 1612903. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/...

About the Speaker

Tilo Weber studied Biology at the University of Würzburg and has been working since 2016 as a Scientific Officer at the Animal Welfare Academy of the Deutscher Tierschutzbund. His research focuses on animal-free cell culture and the global replacement of FBS. He has co-authored multiple scientific papers on FBS alternatives and, since 2023, has collaborated with Lund University to disseminate information on the Oredsson Universal Replacement Medium. He has presented this work at several international conferences, including the 2025 World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences in Rio de Janeiro. In August 2025, he co-authored a best practice review on FBS replacement with 12 international researchers.