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The Humane Research Trust is funding a pioneering project at De Montfort University to develop an animal-free model to study lung infections such as pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis.
This innovative research will replace animal models with a fully humanised system, providing scientists with a powerful tool to understand bacterial lung infections and test new treatments.
Pneumonia remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, claiming millions of lives every year. One of the main causes is a bacterium called Streptococcus pneumoniae, often shortened to pneumococcus. These bacteria can cause a range of illnesses, including ear infections, sinus infections, meningitis and sepsis.
Pneumococcus often lives harmlessly in the nose and throat. However, it can sometimes spread deeper into the body and cause serious infections. Before this happens, the bacteria can gather together in protective groups known as biofilms. These groups are surrounded by a protective layer that helps shield the bacteria from threats.
Although vaccines have reduced the burden of disease, pneumococcal infections still kill hundreds of thousands of people every year. Young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems are most at risk. Because of the ongoing threat, the World Health Organisation has identified pneumococcus as a priority pathogen that requires new treatment approaches.
Treating these infections is becoming more difficult as the bacteria become increasingly resistant to antibiotics. Biofilms can protect bacteria from both antibiotics and the body's immune system, allowing infections to persist and increasing the risk of antibiotic resistance. Developing new ways to prevent and treat these infections is therefore a major public health priority.
Current research relies heavily on animal models such as mice, rabbits, and chinchillas. These studies cause significant suffering and fail to replicate the complexity of human airways.
Existing laboratory models based on human cells offer some advantages, but they also have important limitations. They can only support bacterial growth for short periods, typically less than 24 hours, and cannot reproduce biofilm formation, a key stage of infection that develops over several days.
Many of these laboratory models also use animal products in the cell culture process. These products introduce variability and other issues, limiting the relevance of findings to human biology. To deliver new insights into the human body’s response to pneumococcal infection, researchers need models that are fully relevant to humans.
Without physiologically relevant human systems, it remains difficult to understand how pneumococcus adapts to the airway environment, forms biofilms and evades treatment. This knowledge gap slows the development of new therapies and contributes to the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
As Dr Raymond Allan, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology at De Montfort University explains: “There is an unmet need for a biologically representative model that supports long-term pneumococcal colonisation and biofilm formation. Current systems are limited and rely on animal products, which we aim to eliminate.”
The Humane Research Trust is excited to support a new project at Dr Allan's laboratory at De Montfort University, where scientists are fighting back against pneumococcal diseases. The team is developing a novel respiratory epithelial model that supports long-term infection under conditions that mimic the human airway.
Using small airway epithelial cells grown at an air-liquid interface, the model will reproduce key features of the respiratory tract, including mucus production and the formation of cilia (hairlike structures that help cells communicate).
Importantly, the system will be completely animal-free. Researchers will replace foetal bovine serum and horse blood - products commonly used in laboratories - with humane alternatives such as human AB serum and defined media. They will also use advanced imaging techniques and animal-free reagents to characterise and validate the model..
Once established, the team will introduce pneumococcal strains and monitor infection for up to 14 days, assessing biofilm formation, epithelial health, and bacterial adaptation. They will also perform dual RNA sequencing, a tool which enables them to profile how both the bacteria and the host cells respond over time. Together, these approaches will provide unprecedented insight into the infection process.
“This model will allow us to study pneumococcal pathogenesis in a way that reflects real human biology,” says Dr Allan. “It will also offer a humane, cost-effective alternative to animal testing.”
Dr Raymond Allan
Principal investigator
Principal investigator Dr Raymond Allan is a Senior Lecturer in Microbiology at De Montfort University. His research focuses on the investigation of bacterial biofilms, developing an understanding of the adaptive mechanisms they employ to enable their survival within the human host, and investigating their role in chronic infectious disease.
Divine Derefaka
PhD student
Divine Derefaka is a PhD student with a background in Biomedical Science at De Montfort University. She is a Sustainable Development Goals Fellow with a strong commitment to advancing humane and sustainable research. Her work focuses on developing and promoting efficient research practices and methods that reduce reliance on animal models.
