In Europe, there is a clear need to train experts on disease model pathology, in order to analyze and validate animal models for human diseases. The need is growing as disease models are increasingly used in preclinical drug development and in basic science. The work of disease model pathologists evidently differs from that of the human or veterinary pathologists, and researchers working with disease models often do not possess the required expertise for in-depth histo-pathological evaluation. Although the need for qualified disease model pathologists is obvious, there are no European wide training programmes available for researchers working in disease modelling. However, there are some national training programmes in this field, and the proposed disease model pathology project (DisPath) aims at combining resources from Finland, Germany and UK, in order to build training available for students from all European countries. The disease model pathologists need to be highly educated on human and mouse anatomy and histopathology, physiology, genetics and pharmacology. Therefore, the DisPath consortium includes specialists in pedagogy, human and veterinary pathology and in human disease modelling in mice.DisPath aims at constructing a curriculum for a web-based training programme in disease model pathology. An extensive set of digitalized histo-pathological material from human clinical specimens and from mouse models of human diseases will be collected and processed for educational purposes in order to build an e-learning environment. A representative course module will be tested as a pilot course with students from Universities of participating partners, and the evaluation of the pilot course will be utilized to improve the curriculum.In the long-term, the training developed in DisPath will improve the quality of translational medicine and allow more efficient and ethical use of experimental animals, as well as enriches the collaboration between European Universities.