We are proud to introduce the participants of the Animal-Free Venture Challenge 2026! Meet Daranamix, LubaLabs, NuClear, PArtCell Solutions and ViroGenesis, the five teams that will spend three intensive months working on the business skills they need to successfully bring their animal-free innovations to market.on the business skills they need to successfully bring their animal-free innovations to the market during an intensive 3-month program.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> This year, several teams of animal-free pioneers will once again turn their scientific breakthroughs into solid business cases \u2013 with professional guidance, of course. Together, we will ensure that animal-free innovations make their way from the lab to the market. The goal: to increase the impact of animal-free innovation on the number of laboratory animals.<\/p>\n This year’s participants are:<\/p>\n Jos\u00e9 Manuel Rivera Arbelaez, Jana Hecking, Mariel Cano Jorge and Robert Passier take us to the heartstream of tomorrow: they have developed the Multi-Heart Plate (MHP), a human-centred solution for animal models for discovering heart medicines and researching heart disease. MHP enables the standardised creation of multiple fluid-pumping heart chambers using reprogrammed stem cells. Combined with sensors that provide real-time measurements, MHP delivers clinically relevant measurement results. This enables safer, faster and more predictive testing for the next generation of medicines.<\/p>\n<\/div> Imran Avci, Duygu Akbulut and Mahdi Mozdoor Dashtabi are developing a Brillouin wellplate platform that allows human tissue models to be analysed in 3D without damaging the tissue or requiring intervention. This technology makes it possible to quantitatively map tissue mechanics in intact organoids and spheroids over time.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> To meet the need for more accessible treatments for cystic fibrosis, Ewart Kuijk, Jari Bulkens and Krijn van der Steen have developed a sensitive, scalable and human-relevant test that accelerates the discovery of cystic fibrosis drugs without the use of laboratory animals. In addition to cystic fibrosis, NuClear’s invention also has great potential in the fields of toxicology, microscopy and the automation of cellular tests.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> Despite the fact that new methods are increasingly being used in the discovery of new medicines, animal components such as Matrigel and foetal calf serum remain an important basis. Andre de Goes, Arnold Boersma and Danielle Counotte want to change this by creating artificial cells in the laboratory without animal components. PartCell Solutions uses these to model diseases such as Huntington’s disease, a terrible, incurable neurodegenerative disease, and to investigate the interactions between drugs and their targets.<\/p>\n Their mission is to improve decision-making in the early stages of drug development and increase the success rate of clinical trials. Despite the use of new methods in drug development, animal components such as Matrigel continue to be used in drug research, with millions of laboratory animals used worldwide every year. However, animal models often do not provide reliable predictions for the human situation.<\/p>\n<\/div> Respiratory viruses pose a constant threat to global health, ranging from seasonal infections to pandemics such as COVID-19. Despite this burden, many respiratory viruses remain understudied or difficult to develop vaccines and antivirals for because they cannot be reliably cultured for clinical use. As a result, vaccine and antiviral development is slow, costly, and often unsuccessful at various stages.<\/p>\n At ViroGenesis, Tami Zhang, Anna Mykytyn, Tim Breugem, Bastian Bedaux Knoppen, and Carmen Correa Martin have overcome this challenge by producing high-quality, clinical-grade respiratory viruses using completely animal-free human lung organoid technology. This approach accelerates the development of vaccines and antivirals while reducing the use of animals, eliminating the need for animal models and animal reagents at multiple stages.<\/p>\n<\/div> From February the participants participate in the first bootcamp of the Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge. During this three-day event, the teams will delve deeply into the world of entrepreneurship and work on their business case under the guidance of experienced coaches and experts.<\/p>\n This bootcamp is the first step in a three-month trajectory in which the teams will not only sharpen their ideas, but also build a future in which innovation and animal-free science go hand in hand.<\/p>\n The icing on the cake is an award ceremony on April 24, where one of the accepted teams will receive a nice cash prize with which they can further develop their startup.<\/p>\n Want to stay informed? Subscribe to our newsletter in science!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge<\/h2>\n<\/div>
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Daranamix<\/h2>\n<\/div>
![\"Nydus](\"https:\/\/staging.proefdiervrij.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Daranamix_logo-300x233.jpg\" "\\"Daranamix_logo\\""){kind=logo}
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>LubaLabs<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
![\"HeartSmart](\"https:\/\/staging.proefdiervrij.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LubaLabs_logo-300x169.png\" "\\"LubaLabs_logo\\""){kind=logo}
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>NuClear<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
![\"2ndb](\"https:\/\/staging.proefdiervrij.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/NuClear_Logo-300x98.png\" "\\"NuClear_Logo\\""){kind=logo}
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>PArtCell Solutions<\/h2>\n<\/div>
![\"2ndb](\"https:\/\/staging.proefdiervrij.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PArtCell-Solutions_logo-300x190.png\" "\\"PArtCell"){kind=logo}
<\/span><\/div>Virogenesis<\/h2>\n<\/div>
![\"2ndb](\"https:\/\/staging.proefdiervrij.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ViroGenesis_logo-300x300.jpg\" "\\"ViroGenesis_logo\\""){kind=logo}
<\/span><\/div>And now: bootcamps and the award ceremony<\/h2>\n<\/div>