Excited by the promise of modern science and technology, NAVS is committed to addressing key challenges in biomedical research by funding initiatives that promote smarter, more humane solutions. Through its funding of the International Foundation for Ethical Research (IFER), NAVS empowers experts in the scientific community to champion the development and use of methodologies that can replace the use of animals in research.
Since its founding in 1985, IFER has been entrusted to address pressing issues in science by supporting early career researchers who are advancing ethical and human-relevant scientific discovery. By providing financial and other support to IFER, NAVS aims to accelerate transformative advancements in science that we hope will bring an end to the use of animals in scientific research.
IFER Graduate Fellowships are awarded annually to researchers working on groundbreaking approaches to study and treat human health challenges like cancer. These one-year grants, renewable for up to three years, support projects addressing some of the most urgent needs in research.
To date, IFER has awarded more than $2 million in grants, enabling groundbreaking research at institutions such as Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of British Columbia, and the University of California. This year, IFER selected 12 recipients from across the world for its graduate fellowship—a new high for the program. The growth in number of applicants and projects selected highlights the growing interest and investment in humane methods.
Meet the new class of IFER graduate fellows:
| Kaihua (Chloe) Chen | University of Rochester |
| Yansong (Harry) Peng | Cornell University |
| Ian Smith | University of Maryland – College Park |
| Dowlette-Mary Alam El Din | Johns Hopkins University |
| Mingzhi Xu | Duke University |
| Zeke Benshirim | Harvard University |
| Vikram Surendran | Wake Forest University |
| Eunho Choi | KAIST (Daejeon, South Korea) |
| Lunan Liu | New York University |
| Eliska Rehurkova | Masaryk University (Brno, Czechia) |
| Claudia Nguyen | UCLA |
| Filipa Maria Ribeiro Soeiro de Carvalho | University of Delaware |
Their projects include development of a “tumor-on-a-chip” to study how solid tumors respond to immune attacks, a 3D lung model to study lung fibrosis, “brain-on-a-chip” technologies to study neural communications, and combining advanced organoids with microfluidic technology to create models of pancreatic cancer.
Read more about each project and fellow here and be sure to follow IFER on LinkedIn to keep up with this class of fellows.
