In order to avoid, reduce and improve animal testing, the state of Baden-Württemberg founded a statewide network of universities on 8 February with the aim of improving animal welfare in research and teaching, and has made 3.8 million euros available for the purpose. The projects awarded funding also include the 3R-US network at the University of Stuttgart and the Robert Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart. The partners are developing an ex-vivo tumor tissue platform as a substitute for animal testing, and focus on molecular diagnostics, biomaterials and simulation.