Transparent communication at the Max Delbrück Center

A breakthrough in cancer research, self-renewing cells in the heart, new fundamental insights into how mammals perceive vibrations or temperature – it would be easy to omit an essential detail from such important findings, or to euphemistically describe them as “in vivo experiments.” But here at the Max Delbrück Center, we purposefully avoid such formulations. We communicate openly and transparently whenever this knowledge is even partially based on animal experiments. We also explain why these experiments are necessary. In our newsroom, for example, we list articles that deal specifically with the topic of animal testing under the heading “animal research” so that they are easy to find.

For us, proactive communication about animal testing and the 3R principles is an ethos to which we remain true. Our goal with this transparency is to provide facts and thus enable objective debate, but also to face any critique head on. This includes inviting journalists to our animal facilities, answering questions from students, organizing roundtable discussions with politicians, holding panel discussions for the public, publishing statistics, and much more. This way, we promote a dialogue between science and society and contribute to a better understanding of scientific processes.

The Max Delbrück Center is one of the first signatories of the initiative "Transparente Tierversuche", which started on July 1, 2021.