A LYMM scientist, who is committed to finding alternatives to animal testing, has been awarded £25,000 to carry on with her tireless work and to continue to train the scientists of tomorrow.

Carol Barker-Treasure picked up the Lush training prize 2013 for her services to the replacement of animals in testing.

The 45-year-old, who set up XCellR8 in 2008, said: “Of course I really hoped that we would win. We were really excited about it but didn’t expect it.”

For the past five years, the company, which is based at the Innovation Centre at Sci-Tech Daresbury, have been hosting cell culture training events for both scientists and students.

Carol said: “It is crucial to educate the next generation of scientists about the ethical and scientific benefits of using human cell based alternatives to traditional animal tests.

“By enabling young scientists to take this knowledge forward into their careers, our goal is to help reduce the number of scientists resorting to unethical and outdated animal test methods in the future."

XCellR8 have already trained approximately 400 scientists in the procedure, which uses human cells instead of animals to test products.

After winning the cash prize, the company will now be able to open up the training to more people.

Carol, who has a PhD from the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Research Alternatives Laboratory at the University of Nottingham, has been determined to prevent the testing of animals since she began working with FRAME in the 90s.

“Some people are still doing animal testing because they think it’s cheaper but that’s not true. It’s about educating people.”

The Lush prize is a major initiative by the international high street cosmetics company, who hope to make safety testing without the use of animals the only way forward.

For more information visit x-cellr8.com.