Hi Reader, did you invite your friends to the event so you have someone to share the experience with?
Well, I know, Mondays are the most exciting days to take action...
But you can be in good spirits because I’ll have a new dose of motivation for you on Wednesday and Thursday.
Here is something most people overlook when thinking about sustainability:
Exciting & Easy Innovations for Our Laboratories
Why making labs greener is becoming easier.
Sustainability, Made Simple
Doing research is hard. So, I think we should at least make sustainability easy.
But easy and impactful at the same time - is that realistic?
This picture was adapted from the University of Nevada, showing that initiatives such as take-back programs, adjusting freezer temperatures, and implementing energy-saving schedules can have a much greater impact than you might expect.
Yes, and that's why this week is going to be so exciting.
For many years, sustainability enthusiasts have been fighting an uphill battle.
We didn't know what was possible, what was safe, or what was allowed.
This is where the impression that sustainability is such a hassle comes from.
For years, we have been fighting to get data. But we got there! Here, Farley and colleagues showed that opening a freezer door for just one minute can lead to significant temperature fluctuations - making shorter door-opening times not only a good way to save energy but also an important measure to safeguard your samples!
But now, things are different. Very different.
What Sustainability Looks Like Today
Here is a recent example that I think illustrates that point perfectly: plant-based peptones.
In other words, the nutrients you use to grow bacteria and fungi or supplement your cell cultures.
These are plant-based HiVeg® peptones from HiMedia. In the middle, you can see an example of Candida, demonstrating that these media allow for morphological differentiation. On the far right, the growth curves for S. aureus show similar growth patterns. In other words, what animal-based media can do, plant-based alternatives can replicate!
From fundamental research to fermentation plants and diagnostic labs, peptones are widely used.
To produce just one ton, HiMedia estimated that they have to slaughter approx. 33 500 cattle and waste more than 5 billion liters of water. But now HiMedia also offers plant-based peptones. That means zero cattle and >90% less water.
But the plant-based alternatives cannot be as good, right?
Well, studies like the one by Cleland et al. show functional equivalence for bacteria.
And other's work, such as Davami et al., show that switching to plant-based proteins can enhance, for example, Ig production by CHO cells.
So, if performance isn't a problem, what about regulation?
False Concerns
Too often, people believe that “regulation” makes change impossible.
On October 28th and 29th, I’ll talk much more about regulation and share a few tips on how to deal with it.
While indeed not everyone can change freezer temperatures, there are very few limitations otherwise.
In our example above, both the EMA (EMA/CAT/22473/2025) and the European pharmacopoeia 7.0 support the use plant-based alternatives:
“It is recommended to minimise, wherever practicable, the use of substances of animal origin.”
Similarly, Kilcoyne has saved >69% of plastic waste in a biotoxin monitoring lab.
The same goes for sterility - you can easily save 30–60% of plastic waste even if you work in cell culture.
This is the waste generated by the Molecular Parasitology Lab at NUI Galway. The upper left shows biohazardous waste produced during a single week of research, with the general laboratory waste generated during the same period shown below. The upper right shows the potentially recyclable waste accumulated over one month of laboratory work. Put plainly, they enabled the recycling of more than 5 kg of waste.
More on working in sterile environments on the 28th, and on the 29th, we’ll see when bioplastics can be a simple replacement.
Believe me, it's going to be exciting - and I am about to prepare several resources for you to make implementation seamless:
A guide with tips for navigating regulations
A guide for your freezers (when to replace them and how to keep them greener)
A guide to procurement
A guide on how to get started
A guide on how to implement sustainability safely
You can grab them on the 28th or 29th if you are with us!
How We Feel Today
References
Cleland, D. et al., 2007. Growth characteristics of microorganisms on commercially available animal-free alternatives to tryptic soy medium. Journal of Microbiological Methods, 69(2), 345–352. doi:10.1016/j.mimet.2007.02.004.
Davami, F. et al., 2014. Peptone Supplementation of Culture Medium Has Variable Effects on the Productivity of CHO Cells. International Journal of Molecular and Cellular Medicine, 3(3), 146–156.
Kilcoyne, J. et al., 2022. Reducing environmental impacts of marine biotoxin monitoring: A laboratory report. PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, 1(3), e0000001. doi:10.1371/journal.pstr.0000001.
If you have a wish or a question, feel free to reply to this Email. Other than that, see you soon!
Edited by Patrick Penndorf Connection@ReAdvance.com Lutherstraße 159, 07743, Jena, Thuringia, Germany Data Protection & Impressum If you think we do a bad job: Unsubscribe
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