Researchers have been awarded £1m in funding for projects aimed at reducing use of animals in testing and finding alternatives.

The grants were made by the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research, which was launched by the government last year. The organisation was recently awarded £3m in fresh funding. The £1m in grants will be shared out among eight projects being run by universities and companies, some of which are developing ways of using human cells to test drugs. Six of the projects are aimed at replacing animal research, one is aimed at reduction, and one at refinement of an implant used in studies of monkeys.