Both are published in Global Surgical Education, the journal of @surgicaleducation.bsky.social, in a special collection developed by SAO’s Donya Mand, MD.

Explore the full collection of publications here: link.springer.com/collections/...

What are the top 5 things to be learned from international approaches to nonhuman animal use in health professions training? - Global Surgical Education - Journal of the Association for Surgical Educa... Using animals in clinical training limits the fidelity and accessibility of learning opportunities for trainees in unique ways. This article canvasses international perspectives on the benefits of sim...

ICYMI, check out another article by Dr. Pawlowski and SAO colleague Samuel Pons on the use of nonhuman animals in medical training from an international perspective:

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Whose input should inform training programs’ uses of nonhuman animals? - Global Surgical Education - Journal of the Association for Surgical Education Global Surgical Education - Journal of the Association for Surgical Education - This commentary on a case argues that creating better procedural skills development curricula requires commitment...

They also emphasize the importance of transparency at every stage of course & curricular development.

Read the article here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#Bioethics #MedEthics #MedicalEthics #AnimalRights #AnimalEthics

“Transparency about the eventual agreed-upon curriculum is important for all stakeholders; curriculum review committee members, learners, educators, and patients, as well as their benefactors and regulators. Benefactors could include any curricular sponsors, donors, or animal rights groups.” - Feinstein & Pawlowski (2026)

“The practical reason to replace nonhuman animals is that their use often has little relevance to the human condition” - Feinstein & Pawlowski (2026)

“When controversial models and alternatives are discussed, the alternative models, species, and learning modalities should be documented.” - Feinstein & Pawlowski (2026)

In a recent case & commentary, Drs. David Feinstein & John Pawlowki of @harvardmed.bsky.social argue that medical curricula should incorporate input from a diverse range of stakeholders, including perspectives on animal rights.

#MedEd #MedSky #SurgEd #SurgSky

The COLAAB's @mikalahsinger.bsky.social is traveling to ️☀️ Chula Vista, CA next month for the 📚 @scholarlypub.bsky.social Annual Meeting.

She’ll network & present a poster w/ recommendations for editors to help mitigate animal methods bias & ensure fair review of submissions without animal use. 👇

World Week for Animals in Laboratories —Sentience World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL) “has been a catalyst for the movement to end the suffering of animals in laboratories around the world and their replacement with advanced scientific non...

It's #WW4AIL! 🐁 Non-animal methods are steadily replacing the use of animals in experiments, but millions+ are still used every year. Many experience pain & distress, & most ultimately die.

This week, SAO will be discussing key issues affecting animals in labs. ⬇️
www.linkedin.com/pulse/world-...

Research Modernization NOW PETA Scientists' comprehensive report on the use of animals in experimentation, testing, and education, and common-sense strategy for revitalizing the U.S. scientific enterprise to protect human healt...

👉 Visit science.peta.org today and take action to help shape the future of science. 🚀

#scipol #publicpolicy #researchpolicy

⬇️ You can download and print key reports to learn, educate, and advocate for a better scientific future.

This 🆕 website will be regularly updated with the latest research and policy developments relevant to the transition to 21st century science. 🧪 🧬

🔎 Discover why animal experimentation has been holding back medical progress, the shortcomings of current oversight, and the advantages of human-based technologies.

🗃️ Browse 40+ extensive appendices covering disease areas, medical education, and more.

📢 BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! 🥁...

Research Modernization NOW, our #SciencePolicy roadmap, has become a living online resource!

📚 Dive into a resource packed with everything you need to know about animal experimentation and why we must transition to human-relevant, non-animal methods.

🧵

Frontiers | Institutional Biobanking as shared public health infrastructure: a financially sustainable service center model Institutional biobanks are essential infrastructure supporting clinical research, translational discovery, and public health preparedness. However, many biob...

For scientists avoiding or shifting away from animal use, sustainable access to well‑curated human tissues makes human‑based research easier to initiate and sustain.

Read more in Frontiers in Health Services: www.frontiersin.org/journals/hea...

#biorepository #biobank

This approach delivers:
🪨 Reliable, long‑term access to human samples
🪟 Cost transparency and responsible stewardship
🦺 Reduced risk compared to decentralized, lab‑based storage
🚀 Faster, more collaborative, research‑ready workflows

Olson describes how embedding #biobanking within an institutional service-center model creates financially stable, accountable, and scalable access to high‑quality human #biospecimens and avoids reliance on unpredictable grants or subsidies.

Table one in the paper linked later in the thread, showing a "Comparison of biobanking models." The caption reads: "Stand-alone biobanks typically rely on subsidies or grants and face financial instability, while the GRCF Biobank service center model achieves sustainability through fee-for-service operations, CAP accreditation, and integration within a multi-division." (https://doi.org/10.3389/frhs.2026.1778446)

What if biobanking were treated as shared #PublicHealth infrastructure?

In a new perspective, Melissa V. Olson describes how they do it at The Johns Hopkins BioBank, a @pathologists.bsky.social accredited program that's part of the @jhu.edu Genetic Resources Core Facility.

Screenshot from the article with the following sentence highlighted: "Individual incidents can be minimized in isolation, patterns cannot."

When these "isolated episodes" are assembled across facilities & over time, they reveal consistent lapses in oversight & patterns of preventable deaths, regulatory violations, biosecurity failures, disjointed enforcement, & compromised research that cannot be ignored.

#animalrights #transparency

Screenshot from the article with the following excerpt highlighted: "“Animal advocacy organizations now include scientists, regulatory specialists, and legal experts who understand both the limitations of animal models and the mechanics of the oversight system. They are working with the same records institutions produce—but analyzing them collectively rather than case by case."

Experts are evaluating oversight systems using their own outputs, and the resulting evidence gives ample cause for scrutiny.

For an ethically and scientifically literate audience, the takeaway is straightforward, and it can’t be fixed with better “messaging.”

#ethics #bioethics #animalresearch

Animal Research Scrutiny Is an Oversight Problem, Not a Messaging One | The Scientist The industry’s push to rebrand animal experimentation failures as a communication issue ignores the systemic risks documented in their own records.

Published Friday in The Scientist, my colleagues, Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel & @katherineroe.bsky.social, push back on claims that animal advocates are distorting or somehow misleading the public & policymakers by drawing attention to oversight records.

www.the-scientist.com/animal-resea...

How Do Different Psychedelics Affect the Brain? Scientists Analyzed More Than 500 Neural Scans to Find Out A new study suggests that four psychoactive compounds work in surprisingly similar ways, and that they break down the separation between how we think internally and how we perceive the outside world

- NYU's @realjoshsiegel.bsky.social & @ndosenbach.bsky.social
- @camneuro.bsky.social's @estamatakis.bsky.social
+ others from @iupsychbrain.bsky.social

And finally, also check out this piece by @sarahashemi.bsky.social for @smithsonianmag.bsky.social:
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/h...

Your brain on drugs: different psychedelics work in surprisingly similar ways Hundreds of scans hint at how substances such as psilocybin, LSD and ayahuasca alter connections between key areas of the brain.

- @ethz.ch's @katrinpreller.bsky.social
- @jhpsychedelics.bsky.social's @fredbarrettphd.bsky.social
- @maastrichtu.bsky.social's @nlmason.bsky.social
... 👇...

More reporting on the paper by @miryamnaddaf.bsky.social for @nature.com:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

An international mega-analysis of psychedelic drug effects on brain circuit function - Nature Medicine Analysis of neuroimaging datasets across five major psychedelics revealed a shared brain signature and provides a comprehensive insight into how these drugs reorganize brain architecture.

Read the full paper in @natmed.nature.com:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Also by:
- UCSF's @lollopasquini.bsky.social & @robincarhartharris.bsky.social
- @dellmedschool.bsky.social's @manojdoss.bsky.social
- @exeter.ac.uk's @leorroseman.bsky.social & @profdavidnutt.bsky.social
👇

By applying a shared preprocessing pipeline & #Bayesian hierarchical modeling, Manesh Girn, Danilo Bzdok, & collaborators identified a common signature across the 5️⃣ psychedelics, including increased connectivity between higher‑order cognitive & emotional networks and primary sensory systems.

As the authors note:

“Although much preclinical and wet laboratory science is challenging to homogenize and formally integrate, the brain imaging community has the key advantage of agreement on data formats, acquisition procedures and reference atlases.”

In this new mega-analysis, researchers at #UCSF & @theneuro.bsky.social integrated 11 independent resting‑state #fMRI datasets across:

🧠 500 scans
🧍 267 individuals
🍄 5 psychedelics
🌎 3 continents

Results provide a probabilistic map of how psychedelics alter large‑scale human brain organization.

Here's what psychedelics actually do to the brain Scientists looked at a wide range of brain scans to determine how consciousness gets so trippy on mind-altering drugs.

Large‑scale, human‑only neuroscience reveals the "neural fingerprint" of #psychedelics, mapping how these substances may disrupt rigid patterns of thought & promote flexibility by reshaping brain connectivity. 💡🧠

#neuroskyence

By @meryldl.bsky.social:
www.nationalgeographic.com/health/artic...

CU Denver Creates Lab-Grown Lung Model to Test Treatments More Effectively - CU Denver News University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Chelsea Magin is developing a lung model to help advance the

Congratulations to @chelsea-magin.bsky.social and her team, including Haley Noelle, Mikala Mueller, and Rachel Blomberg, on this great feature!

news.ucdenver.edu/cu-denver-cr...

@cudenverresearch.bsky.social 🧪

With an all-female team from CU Denver and @cuanschutz.bsky.social, Magin's work can help tease apart why lung diseases affect men and women differently and discover which treatments might work best for each individual—providing a path for personalized medicine in #pulmonology.

Screenshot from the CU Denver news release linked later in the thread. The full text reads: "Current methods fall short. Many lab-grown cells are studied on flat, rigid surfaces that don’t reflect how lungs function. Animal testing also has limits. As a result, nearly 90% of drugs that work in the lab fail in human trials. Magin’s model aims to close that gap. The team removes cells from donor lung tissue and turns them into a powder. That powder is mixed with water and added to synthetic material to make a hydrogel containing both natural and synthetic parts mixed together. That combination of materials mimic lung properties. Once built, the model can be “diseased” and treated, allowing researchers to observe how therapies perform."

At #CUDenver, the Magin lab is engineering a new partly donor-derived, partly synthetic model for studying lung diseases. 🫁

"We’re not just conducting research ... We’re combining engineering, medicine, and industry to find treatments that work." - @chelsea-magin.bsky.social

#pulmsky

Bone Organoids: A Novel Tool for Modeling and Managing Skeletal Disorders in Diabetes This review synthesizes advances in bone organoid engineering and evaluates their potential to model diabetic bone fragility. Current in vitro and animal models do not fully recapitulate diabetes-ass...

Going forward, bone organoids will be critical for understanding diabetic bone fragility and accelerating therapeutic development.

Read the paper by Lin et al. in Advanced Science:
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

#OrthoSky #Endocrinology

The authors describe how bone organoids, built from human primary cells or #iPSCs, can reconstruct key features of native bone while preserving patient‑specific genetic and #epigenetic risk factors.

🧬

For example, "cortical bone differs structurally between small mammals and humans ... raising the question of whether mouse models are useful for identifying therapeutic approaches to strengthen cortical bone, a critical determinant of bone's fracture propensity."