Understanding Animal Research

It's officially #AnimalsInResearch week! To kick it off, we wanted to talk about some of the reasons behind why Understanding Animal Research exists - the primary reason being to promote openness and transparency in when, how, and why animals are used in research, which involves providing balanced information on animal use (the benefits of research weighed against potential suffering) and the impacts of animal welfare. Today, however, we wanted to focus on another reason: the rise of animal rights extremism. This form of extremism emerged in the UK after a group called ‘Band of Mercy’ formed in the ‘80s. The group started a firebombing campaign, which involved the use of arson and planting high-explosive bombs. The most serious incidents included high explosive bombs at Bristol University and against two veterinary researchers in Salisbury and Bristol in 1989-1990. Misinformation and secrecy surrounding what goes on inside of research laboratories fuel this kind of activism. A huge part of UAR’s mission is to provide accurate information about the use of animals in research, the reasons it is still used in a small portion of research today, the strict regulations put in place to protect animal welfare, and the ways in which science continues to phase in alternative non-animal methods and reduce the number of animals used in research. You can read more about the history of animal rights extremism in the UK here: https://lnkd.in/edtP9ryj Stay tuned this week for more #AnimalsInResearch content from universities and research organisations across the country. Image credit: https://lnkd.in/eHRjyX2f

To participate in World Space Week, we wrote an article about current space research and how animals are used to better understand life in space. There is a long history of animals being sent to space. Still today, NASA and other agencies send animals to the International Space Station, from nematodes to mice. Why? Learn about the how's and why's in our new article, and hear from experts like Dr Julie Keeble, Director of Biological Services at King's College London, to hear about the role of animals in space research. “This work is going to change the future of humanity," shares Dr Keeble. "I think it is so important that a new generation of scientists that is able to understand life in space better, be engaged in space, and there may well be a future population in space.” Read here: https://lnkd.in/e5SxkYh8 #WorldSpaceWeek

Why should you care about the most detailed map of an adult animal brain to ever exist if that animal is a fly? Flies have a measly 140,000 neurons in their brains on average - which can fit on the pin of a needle - while humans have some 85 billion. However, scientists have now mapped every single cell and every single connection in a fly’s brain - a feat never accomplished before. While flies only have around 140,000 brain cells, these cells have nearly 50,000 million connections with each another. The map of the brain is available in an online 3D format for viewing, which has been described as a sort of 'Google Maps' for the brain. While we are very different from flies, some of the very basic functions of our brains work in similar ways. Dr Gregory Jefferis of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge told the BBC: “The mapping of the fly brain is really remarkable and will help us get a real grasp of how our own brains work.” Scientists are hopeful that we’ll one day be able to map larger animal brains that can be used to model a healthy brain, a diseased brain, and more. Read more and see images of the brain map here: https://lnkd.in/e8QrhRtt

UAR CEO, Wendy Jarrett, will be running a workshop at the 2024 Society for Neuroscience Meeting in Chicago alongside colleagues from Americans for Medical Progress and Dr Eduardo Rosa-Molinar, Ph.D., which will take place on Monday 7 October, 9-11 a.m. EST. The workshop will provide instruction on how to write research summaries for a variety of audiences, including the public. The intended audience for the workshop is early- and mid-career neuroscientists who would like to enhance their skillset by learning how to summarize their studies for funding opportunities, public programs, job applications, websites, and elsewhere. #SocietyforNeuroscience #Neuroscience #SfN2024

Reporting of the numbers of animals used in research in Australia is a huge welfare issue - or it certainly should be. How can Australia carry out excellent research, form international collaborations and act to ensure high ethical standards of animal research without collecting data on how many animals are used in research, which animals they are and what happened to them? The current state-based system is not enough, and does not compare with the way statistics on animal research are collected elsewhere in the world. ANZCCART has produced an excellent paper comprehensively outlining the issues and why we should be concerned. They also recommend options for ways forward that would allow Australia to report nationally on the use of animals in science. Please take this opportunity to read the paper (link below), and share your thoughts on the best option with ANZCCART. I'm hopeful that a great response will lead to a great result, and that before too long we'll see meaningful statistics on how animals are used in research in Australia. https://lnkd.in/gjYcwuDM #animalresearch #AnimalStatsAustralia

Scientists have long observed axolotls’ ability to age very little, but it’s remained a mystery as to exactly how this occurs. Despite dying at around 13 years of age, older axolotls seems to have few biological differences from younger ones. Researchers at Altos Labs in Cambridge, UK studied a major marker of aging known as DNA methylation, which influences epigenetic changes through our lives. While studying the epigenetic changes throughout axolotls’ lives, they found that the clock stops around 4 years old - in other words, the animals’ methylation patterns remained stable for the rest of their lifespans. Many questions remain to ascertain whether axolotls are truly an example of a non-aging species, but the study builds on our understanding of aging and dying. #AnimalResearch #AgingResearch #NewScience

Do we still need animals to study and develop new treatments for Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases? Read here for more info (https://lnkd.in/eug6BhXJ) and stay tuned for more updates. Image credit: NIAID #AnimalResearch #BiomedicalResearch #AlzheimersDisease #Organoids #BrainOrganoids

In two studies recently published in Cell and Science, scientists at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) and the UK Dementia Research Institute at University of Cambridge explored a new therapy for Alzheimer’s disease and potentially other neurodegenerative conditions. The protein - called TRIM21 - selectively destroyed aggregated tau proteins, leaving healthy tau proteins intact. Whereas current antibody therapies have a hard time accessing tau tangles that live inside of brain cells, TRIM21 is able to enter the cell and effectively destroy the tau aggregates. When given to elderly mice with tau proteins, the result was a significant reduction in tau and decreased symptoms of neurodegeneration, including improved walking ability. Despite this exciting finding, the scientists explain that these therapies still require a lot of development before they can be tested in humans. Read more: https://lnkd.in/edkW3Dbt #AnimalResearch #AlzheimersDisease #Neurodegeneration #NewScience #NewResearch #MedicalResearch #ResearchTransparency

A boy in the UK made headlines after being the first to successfully receive a new device to treat epilepsy, which reduced his daytime seizures by 80%. What research in animals led to this life-changing treatment? Read more here: https://lnkd.in/exE-GJh9 #AnimalResearch #DBS #EpilepsyResearch #Seizures

Did the dye used in this study harm the mice? The scientists behind the groundbreaking publication were able to temporarily make the skin of live mice see-through using a simple solution of water and tartrazine, which is a yellow-orange food dye commonly found in processed foods like Doritos chips. The dye accomplishes this phenomenon due to its light-absorbing properties, causing the light of certain colours to be bent - thus making the skin transparent. For the many of us who consume Doritos, these findings may have raised concern. Luckily, since tartazine is a food dye, it is safe to use on living organisms. And the method is reversible - once washed off, the mice’s skin went back to normal. This approach would offer researchers a much less invasive way to view internal organs and blood vessels in a living organism. Currently, this method only works on very thin tissue, so it is not able to make the thicker skin of humans transparent. #AnimalResearch #NewScience #NewResearch #AnimalTesting #MedicalResearch