Go3R – Knowledge Based Semantic Search Engine To Avoid Animal Experiments
Go3R – Knowledge Based Semantic Search Engine To Avoid Animal Experiments
http://www.go3r.org/
The knowledge-based semantic search engine www.Go3R.org is now available online. It enables information transparency for the prevention of animal testing. In only four months development time, Transinsight from Dresden, Germany, succeeded in making available online Go3R, the worldwide first knowledge-based search engine for alternative methods to animal experiments. Via www.Go3R.org, scientists from all over the world can take advantage of the benefits of semantic searches for the area of alternative methods in accordance with the 3Rs principle. The Search engine can from now on used as Beta version. The so-called 3Rs principle developed by Russell and Burch in 1959 stands for Replacement, Reduction and Refinement. It describes scientific methods that can either replace animal experiments, or reduce animal numbers or refine the suffering of the animals during the procedures. In the European Union, compliance with the 3Rs principle is legally required. In accordance with the EU Laboratory Animal Directive, just as with the German Animal Welfare Act, animal experiments may only be performed if the scientific goal pursued cannot be achieved by any other means, i.e. in totally non-animal procedures, or in methods using fewer animals or entailing less animal suffering. In practice, however, this legal requirement oftentimes is not met, because the scientists and the responsible authorities are unaware of 3Rs alternatives that would exist to the respective foreseen animal experiment. Queries for alternative methods are time consuming and cumbersome, and this situation has possibly even become worse in the era of the internet. Additionally, at the end of a search, it remains unclear whether all relevant information sought for was indeed retrieved. This is where the search engine Go3R sets in. “With Go3R, search retrievals for alternatives to animal experiments become transparent and they are available without delay. Time savings of 90 percent and more are already possible with the first prototype of the search engine“, explains Dr. Michael R. Alvers, CEO and Co-Founder of Transinsight. “With our information technology Go3R, we are pleased to be able to present scientists with a tool that enables them to determine the indispensability of animal experiments more reliably. Go3R promotes the 3Rs principle. In the medium term, this will lead to a significant reduction of animal experiments. Achieving a world with less and less animal experiments is the worthwhile goal that Transinsight is happy to make a contribution to with all its might”, says Alvers. Go3R was developed in cooperation with scientists from the Technical University Dresden and the National German Centre for Documentation and Evaluation of Alternatives to Animal Experiments (ZEBET) at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Berlin. With its expertise in the area of alternative methods, ZEBET has provided the specialist know how for the search machine. This has been added to Biological Informatics Subject Tracer™ Information Blog. This has been added to the tools section of Research Resources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog. This has been added to the semantic research section of Deep Web Research Subject Tracer™ Information Blog.
