The Medical Advances Without Animals Trust (MAWA) was established in 2000. It is an Australian organisation and a registered charity with its administrative base in Canberra. The Trust’s aim is to advance medical science and improve human health and therapeutic interventions without using animals or animal products.
MAWA operates as an independent medical research and educational trust fund which facilitates the development and utilisation of non-animal based experimental methodologies to replace the use of animals in medical research. It is expected that by funding non-animal research and training scientists in alternative methodologies the entrenched reliance on the use of animals will be decreased.
The Trust is taking a leading role in animal replacement in medical research and is unique in deliberately fostering dialogue with the scientific research community to discover common ground to achieve its goals.
MAWA board members are aware that an increasing number of medical scientists are attempting to replace animals wherever possible in line with the National Health and Medical Research Council Code of Practice and that new graduates, in particular, are increasingly concerned with the ethical dilemmas they have to face when using living animals in their research projects.
Many of the animal experimental procedures routinely employed in research are no longer appropriate in the modern research environment where a myriad of quantitative non-invasive human research techniques and exciting gene-manipulative technologies are now available.
The MAWA Trust has supported research into cancer, diabetes, vascular disease, osteoporosis, musculoskeletal diseases, hepatitis, prostate disease, obesity, inflammatory diseases, molecular drug design and computational methods of designing and screening therapeutic agents. MAWA funded researchers use a number of alternative methodologies to replace animal experiments including the use of human cells and tissues, human gene studies, analytical technology, microorganisms, computer models, population research and volunteer studies.
MAWA has also supported the development of a non-animal drug screening methodology, a human model of nerve compression, an animal blood free medium for culture based diagnosis of human diseases, a non-animal method of studying the function of specific genes, and ex vivo human models to study viral-induced rheumatic disease and musculoskeletal disease. One of MAWA’s current funded projects is using a combined data-mining and molecular biology approach to replace animal models for human disease studies. Another project aims to validate the use of human-derived cells/tissues to replace current methodologies in breast cancer research that make use of animals. A recently awarded grant will support the development of a neonatal model test lung that will replace the use of animals in testing mechanical ventilation apparatus required by premature babies.
The Trust’s projects involve a broad range of disciplines in general medicine, medical laboratory science, microbiology, epidemiology, biochemistry, viral immunology, biophysics, public health, histology, predictive medicine, pathology, urology, reproductive medicine, endocrinology, neurophysiology, medical imaging, physiotherapy, health informatics, human kinetics, biomechanics, computer science, engineering, mathematics and statistics.
MAWA funding is provided through the award of research grants, equipment grants, travelling bursaries, doctoral research scholarships, honours research scholarships, bridging scholarships, supplementary research scholarships, travelling scholarships and distinguished scholar tours. The Trust also provides sponsorship assistance for significant symposiums, seminars and conferences, financial assistance for open access of pertinent scientific journal articles and funding for individuals to attend relevant conferences. In 2010 MAWA will be funding a Fellowship to provide scientific leadership in replacement research and will be working towards the establishment of a university hosted Centre for Alternatives to Animal Research.
Ms Elizabeth Ahlston
Professor Anne Keogh
The Hon Kevin Rozzoli AM
Ms Elizabeth Ahlston
Professor Anne Keogh
Mr Raymond Kidd
Professor Stephen Leeder
The Hon Kevin Rozzoli AM
Associate Professor Garry Scroop
Ms Sharyn Watson