In 1959, William Russel and Rex Burch published the 3R principle in their book "The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique". 3R means avoiding animal experiments completely (Replacement), reducing the number of animals in experiments (Reduction) and limiting their suffering to the minimum necessary (Refinement). In 2010, European Directive 2010/63/EU incorporated the internationally recognized 3R principle into European law and in 2013 and 2021 it was incorporated into the amended German Animal Welfare Act and the Animal Welfare Experimental Animals Ordinance, respectively.

In our research projects on 3Rs, we are working to improve the husbandry, handling and performance of animal experiments (refinement):

• Alternative methods: 3Rs and alternative methods to animal experiments - The ethics e-learning platform (3REthicsWeb) - Ethical acceptability of animal experiments and interdisciplinary ethical competencies. Here: Ethical justifiability of animal experiments (2024-2027)

• Berlin-Brandenburg research platform BB3R (2015-2019)

• Europian Network COST Action "3Rs concepts to improve the quality of biomedical science" (IMPROVE) CA21139 (2022-2025)

• EC3R Einstein Center 3Rs www.ec3r.org/de (2021-2026)

• EC3R Pre-proposal for the preparation of a full proposal (2020-2021)

• Cooperation with UZH funded by Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO, OB02 | (20107) 341 Targeted research call - Humanely ending the life of animals (2021-2024)

• UZH-FUB-Cab - Interdisciplinary Partnerships in Research and Education "Ethics and 3Rs in Animal Experimentation" (2021-2022)

• ZIM project RefineMon "Development of a system for quality assurance and refinement of animal experiments in sheep based on objective sensory behavioral parameters" (2020-2023)

• BMBF-funded 3R-SMART project (2018-2021)

• ZIM project "Personalized prognostic method for the success of in vitro fertilization in a cell culture model" (2017-2020)

• Bf3R-funded SimulRator project (2017-2019)

• Cooperation partner in the C3R-funded project Partner retention

• Cooperation partner in the C3R-funded project "Refinement - stress hormones and stress assessment"

• Cooperation partner in the C3R-funded project : Testing of a new buprenorphine retard preparation for pain treatment in mouse osteotomy models - RefineMOMo 2.0

• FUB-UZH Joint Seed Funding Cooperation with Dr. Paulin Jirkof, spokesperson of the 3R Center of the University of Zurich