This article and associated images are based on a poster originally authored by Rebecca Ram and presented at ELRIG Drug Discovery 2026 in affiliation with Lush Prize. This poster is being hosted on this website in its raw form, without modifications. It has not undergone peer review but has been reviewed to meet AZoNetwork’s editorial
This article and associated images are based on a poster originally authored by Rebecca Ram and presented at ELRIG Drug Discovery 2026 in affiliation with Lush Prize.
This poster is being hosted on this website in its raw form, without modifications. It has not undergone peer review but has been reviewed to meet AZoNetwork’s editorial quality standards. The information contained is for informational purposes only and should not be considered validated by independent peer assessment.
The Lush Prize is a £250,000 award supporting initiatives in modern, innovative, and more human-relevant approaches to drive forward drug discovery and disease research and achieve an urgently needed transition away from animal testing.
Prize categories
There are five main prize categories: Science, Training, Public Awareness, Political Advocacy, and Young Researcher (early career scientists). There are additional Recognition Awards, including for Major Science Collaboration.
Nominations are open to individuals or teams in any country.
Winners of the Lush Prize 2026 Young Researcher Award. Image Credit: Image courtesy of Rebecca Ram, in partnership with ELRIG (UK) Ltd.
Roadmaps
Recent developments in roadmaps to phase out animal testing, both in the UK and worldwide, recognize the need for a new way forward in drug discovery and biomedical research. This is not only for scientific and ethical reasons, but also for the innovative new technologies that bring many academic and commercial opportunities, benefiting national and international economic interests.
The UK government’s ‘Replacing animals in science strategy’ was published in November 2025, and states “New advances in technology – particularly AI and genomics, but also organoid and 3D cell systems – finally allow us to see a path to changing our reliance on animals in science”.
The strategy “sets out how we will create a revolutionary research and innovation system” to replace animal use.
There are “clear benefits for animal welfare and a host of economic and scientific impacts, through leveraging the UK’s strong science base. This strategy also marks a step-change in placing the UK at the forefront of international efforts to drive this crucial and exciting agenda”.
Lush Prize awardees
Emulate won the Lush Prize 2024 for Science for its validation of a human liver chip for preclinical toxicology. Image Credit: Image courtesy of Rebecca Ram, in partnership with ELRIG (UK) Ltd.
Since its launch in 2012, the Lush Prize has awarded over £3 million to 150 winners across 36 countries.
Winning projects include:
Next-generation human organ chip technologies
Advances in 3D bioengineering models
Human iPSC-derived models
Computational nanotoxicology
Developmental neurotoxicity
Multi-omics approaches
The Laboratory for Alternative Methods (Argentina) won the Lush Prize 2026 for Training for their work across Latin America. Image Credit: Image courtesy of Rebecca Ram, in partnership with ELRIG (UK) Ltd.
Lindsey Borton and Dr Kelly Coleman won the Lush Prize 2026 for Political Advocacy for their work to eliminate the rabbit pyrogen test for medical devices. Image Credit: Image courtesy of Rebecca Ram, in partnership with ELRIG (UK) Ltd.
The Lush Prize is a biennial event.
Nominations for Lush Prize 2028 will open in August 2027.
To learn more about the prize categories and how to submit your nomination, visit www.lushprize.org.
About Lush Prize
Launched in 2012, the Lush Prize is a major initiative aiming to bring forward the day when safety testing takes place without the use of animals.
It is the largest prize fund in the non-animal testing sector, awarding £250,000 every prize year (every two years). Between 2012 and 2026, Lush Prize has given £3.19 million to 150 winners in 36 countries, supporting scientists and activists in countries as diverse as China, Kenya, Iran, Ukraine and India, as well as New Zealand, Brazil, USA and across Europe.
This large prize fund is designed to support the most progressive work in the field and ensure it continues and has the most impact.
As well as the Prizes, the Lush Prize Conferences have been held to explore key issues with its winners and other experts.
The Lush Prize is a collaboration between Lush Cosmetics, a campaigning manufacturer and retailer of fresh handmade cosmetics, and the research, publishing and campaigning co-operativeEthical Consumer.
About ELRIG (UK) Ltd.
The European Laboratory Research & Innovation Group (ELRIG) is a leading European not-for-profit organization that exists to provide outstanding scientific content to the life science community. The foundation of the organization is based on the use and application of automation, robotics and instrumentation in life science laboratories, but over time, we have evolved to respond to the needs of biopharma by developing scientific programs that focus on cutting-edge research areas that have the potential to revolutionize drug discovery.
Comprised of a global community of over 12,000 life science professionals, participating in our events, whether it be at one of our scientific conferences or one of our networking meetings, will enable any of our community to exchange information, within disciplines and across academic and biopharmaceutical organizations, on an open access basis, as all our events are free-of-charge to attend!
Our values
Our values are to always ensure the highest quality of content and that content will be made readily accessible to all, and that we will always be an inclusive organization, serving a diverse scientific network. In addition, ELRIG will always be a volunteer led organization, run by and for the life sciences community, on a not-for-profit basis.
Our purpose
ELRIG is a company whose purpose is to bring the life science and drug discovery communities together to learn, share, connect, innovate and collaborate, on an open access basis. We achieve this through the provision of world class conferences, networking events, webinars and digital content.
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