NIH Honors PETA Scientists and Collaborators for Non-Animal Research Innovation

For Immediate Release:
May 13, 2026

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

A team of scientists, including experts from PETA, has won a National Institutes of Health (NIH) award for helping make one area of scientific research more reliable. The group was recognized with the Replication Prize for promoting research methods in antibody production that produce consistent, repeatable results—an ongoing challenge in science.

Antibodies are used across many areas of scientific research and are typically created by exposing rabbits, goats, sheep, mice, llamas, cows, horses, and others to a substance, taking blood from the animals, and pulling out the antibodies that were created. Millions of animals are caged or confined to small pens and repeatedly bled. Traditional antibodies taken from animals often vary from batch to batch and even from the same animal, leading to unpredictable or conflicting results.

The team, which also includes experts from biotech companies Abcalis, Abcam, ABCD Antibodies, and Unilever, as well as researchers from universities and research institutes in the U.S. and Europe, including the French Center for the 3Rs (FC3R), the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), Technische Universität Berlin, Technische Universität Braunschweig, the University of Geneva, and Utrecht University, was honored for showing that the use of recombinant antibodies that are made without animals solves this problem. Because they are created using a known genetic sequence, they can be made exactly the same way every time. This means researchers can rely on consistent results, and no animals are needed.

“Our team’s initiatives demonstrate that by working together across disciplines to replace animals with modern methods, we can uphold rigorous scientific standards and make research results more consistent and trustworthy,” says Katherine Groff, Senior Scientist in PETA’s Regulatory Toxicology Department.

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