The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing is an academic center affiliated with the Division of Toxicological Sciences in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

 

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Making A Contribution: Giving Plans

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GIVING PLANS | HOW TO MAKE A DONATION

Joining the Fight for Humane Science

The relevance and impact of philanthropic gifts made to the Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) cannot be overstated. As part of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, CAAT depends on gifts and grants to continue its important work to enhance animal welfare and improve the quality of science.

We invite you to join us in our fight for Humane Science.  Charitable contributions to CAAT come in many shapes and sizes, as outlined below, and our Development Director is here to help you with your philanthropic plans and decisions.

CAAT MEMBERSHIPS

CAAT has the following 2 membership opportunities for Corporations, Foundations and Organizations:

CAAT Advisory Board Membership: $60,000 per year for three years
The CAAT Advisory Board provides oversight and direction to CAAT’s director and staff.  The Board is made up of representatives from industry, academia, the US and European regulatory communities, and the animal welfare community, all contributing their considerable breadth and depth of expertise. Advisory Board members have a voice in setting CAAT’s annual agenda by articulating each company’s priority as it relates to toxicity and product safety testing. A current list of CAAT Advisory Board members is available here.

The Advisory Board meets twice annually in Baltimore to review recent progress and to advise the Center on new initiatives. At its annual fall meeting, the Board also reviews applications to the CAAT research grant program, allowing members the opportunity to consider cutting-edge research and technology in its early stages of development. Every three years, the Advisory Board attends a multi-day retreat, held at a location outside of Baltimore, where members focus on specific issues of importance to CAAT and its sponsors, and map long-range plans for the Center. Advisory Board members are asked to identify new sources of income for the Center, and when appropriate, present at scientific meetings on behalf of CAAT, as well as to promote the Center publicly at a variety of other organizational and regulatory meetings.

Members of the CAAT Advisory Board are part of a unique network of individuals and organizational representatives working globally to address international issues regarding humane science and the development of the 3Rs.  CAAT is based within the world-class setting of the Johns Hopkins University, and members have access to CAAT faculty members and other distinguished professors.

CAAT Associates Program: $15,000 per year
CAAT Associates attend an annual meeting and information session.  The first Associate Meeting was held on June 14, 2007 as part of the CAAT Advisory Board Meeting. CAAT Associates have the opportunity to:

Through this program, Associates have a voice in setting CAAT’s annual agenda by articulating each company’s priority as it relates to toxicity and product safety testing

Individual Memberships—Enhance Animal Welfare
We invite individuals to support CAAT through our membership program. You can help enhance animal welfare through the following membership opportunities:

CAAT Funding Opportunities

Animal Welfare Enhancement (AWE) Awards:One of the ways CAAT promotes the “R” of refinement is through our Animal Welfare Enhancement (AWE) Awards. The focus of these awards is to improve housing, handling and/or experimental situations for laboratory animals. These grants are intended for those who actually work hands-on with the animals, such as laboratory and animal technicians. Each award is for $6,000, with funding provided through donor support.The AWE awards have an impact well beyond the recipients themselves. AWE winners consistently note that colleagues and co-workers become interested in their refinement efforts and in the positive impact on the research and on the animals in their care. AWE winners have spread the word to broader audiences as well. For the past three years, several awardees have presented their findings at the annual PRIM&R (Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research) conference designed for those involved with Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCS). For more information and a list of past AWE award winners, please visit the AWE page.

Altweb:
Altweb, the Alternatives to Animal Testing Website, is at the heart of CAAT’s communication program. It has served as the global clearinghouse of 3Rs-related information and resources for more than a decade now.

One of Altweb’s key roles is to help both experienced and young scientists search for alternatives to the use of animals. The Altweb “Search for Alternatives” section offers a detailed, step-by-step approach to the search process.

In January 2008, CAAT launched a special Altweb section on refinement, designed to organize and synthesize a wealth of information on the recognition, assessment, alleviation, and prevention of pain and distress in laboratory animals. The section provides introductory text explaining each topic in non-technical language, followed by a set of links to relevant databases, websites, books, articles, and abstracts.

Altweb remains the most comprehensive guide to alternatives on the Web, drawing an average of 16,000 unique visitors every month from 125 countries. New visitors make up 82% of the traffic, indicating a growing interest in alternatives; while a core 12% of visits are from researchers and scientists who use the site on a regular basis. Altweb is also the top-ranked site in major search engines for users searching for “alternatives to animal testing.” 

TestSmart DNT 2:
CAAT is proud to announce TestSmart DNT 2, the second TestSmart Conference on Developmental Neurotoxicity (DNT) and the search for alternatives, to be held November 12-14, 2008 in Reston, Virginia.

In 2006, CAAT introduced the TestSmart DNT Program, as stakeholders agreed on the critical need for accelerated chemical evaluation and information on DNT because very few chemicals had been fully evaluated for their potential to cause developmental neurotoxicity.  In January 2007 the TestSmart DNT meeting report, Alternatives for Developmental Neurotoxicity Testing (available on line at: www.ehponline.org) was released, providing a synthesis of the discussions and recommendations, and an evaluation of the goals and objectives set by participants. The report concluded that the program achieved its primary objective: to bring together the stakeholders and individuals from diverse scientific disciplines to examine the initial TestSmart DNT goals and to share ideas and concerns as they relate to the science and policy of DNT.

TestSmart DNT 2 will assess the recommendations established through DNT 1, assess progress in DNT alternatives, outline continuing goals, and initiate new ones.  The purpose of TestSmart DNT 2 is to develop the intended outcome: batteries of methods for developmental neurotoxicity testing.

Visit the DNT 2 site for more details.

Research Grants Program:
CAAT’s research grants program is the centerpiece of our work to develop alternatives to the use of animals in biomedical research and product safety testing, providing critical seed money for scientists interested in developing alternative methods. To date, the Center has funded over 300 grants (including renewals) for a total of more than $6 million. At its annual fall meeting, CAAT’s Advisory Board members review applications to the research grant program, allowing members the opportunity to consider cutting-edge research and technology in its early stages of development.  For 2008/9, CAAT awarded eleven grants relating to refinement, developmental toxicology, immunotoxicology and translational toxicology. The CAAT research grants program costs approximately $250,000 per year and is funded entirely through contributions from companies and foundations.

A complete description if the 2008/09 CAAT research grants, along with previous grant recipients, can be found here.

CAAT Program Projects
CAAT program projects offer a more focused mechanism than individual grants for furthering specific areas of interest. Program projects generally are funded by a single sponsor for a minimum of three years in a research area of interest to the sponsor. Under the program project, a minimum of three applications are funded per year, and the investigators are required to attend project meetings twice a year with sponsor representatives, CAAT staff, and Johns Hopkins faculty. These workshops take the form of informal, interactive laboratory meetings where information is exchanged, progress reported and future direction discussed. These workshops have, in the past, fostered collaborations among the investigators that ultimately resulted in joint publications and the establishment of long-term relationships.

A CAAT program project costs $200,000 per year, for a minimum of three years. Previous program projects focused on the areas of allergic contact dermatitis, neurotoxicity, and corneal wound healing.

Student Support:
In order to meet the needs of industry and government agencies, the Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) has developed a new academic research training program called the CAAT Scholars. This unique initiative allows post-doctoral fellows to work in selected laboratories throughout the University to focus on developing methods that are mechanistically based.  The CAAT Scholars Program will train a new breed of toxicologist, skilled in translating basic research and discovery into practice—i.e. translational toxicology.  These scholars will be trained to identify examples of translational research that will contribute to the public health solutions of tomorrow.

Planned Giving:
Charitable gifts reward donors in many ways. There is the satisfaction of supporting an important cause, the excitement of seeing your gift lead to positive change, and, in many cases, tangible financial benefits to you and/or another beneficiary, through tax advantages and the receipt of a lifetime income stream from the donated asset. Methods of philanthropy include:

For more information on planned giving opportunities for CAAT, please visit the Johns Hopkins Gift Planning site, or contact Lawrence C. Norford, Esq. in the Office of Gift Planning at lenorford@jhu.edu or (410) 516-7954.