• Question: Do you do animal testing for your experiments?

    Asked by anon-251343 to Sree on 27 Apr 2020.
    • Photo: Sreejith Radhakrishnan

      Sreejith Radhakrishnan answered on 27 Apr 2020: last edited 27 Apr 2020 11:01 pm

      Hi,

      Thanks for your question.
      I don’t do any experiments on animals for my research. I vaccinate stray dogs in India against rabies with a vaccine that you can buy in shops. This should help to develop immunity in these dogs so that they don’t catch rabies. But I can’t know if they’ve developed immunity without doing blood tests, so I collect blood samples from the dogs that I’ve vaccinated to look at the blood levels of antibodies (protective agents in the blood that destroy germs when they enter an animal’s or person’s body).

      I hope that answers your question, but do let me know if it doesn’t.

      Take care
      Sree

      P.S. I assumed this question was from a school student, hence the extremely simplified response. I only just looked up your profile after answering the question, so apologies for the oversimplification!

Comments

  • Photo: Soudi

    Soudi commented on :

    I use a nematode, round worm, named Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) which in Latin means: elegant rod-like. Indeed it is an “elegant” model to work with. It is only 1mm when fully grown so we use microsocpes to look at them. It is an “invertebrate” and therefore not really a lab animal even though it is an animal! It doesnt have blood either! A fascinating model for the study of ageing, diseases and metabolism, many genes are conserved from C. elegans to humans.

  • Photo: Liane

    Liane commented on :

    Thank you for your question. My research is in animal welfare. I am currently making a tool that will essentially translate the ultrasonic noises that mice make to one another so that we can understand them. In particular, I aim to find out which noises mice make that suggest that they feel comfortable and happy (I get to give them treats!) and which ones might suggest that they’re not as happy as they could be (it might be just that they don’t get along with those they live with). This is important because, while we always check the mice carefully by looking at them, mice are a prey species and try to hide when they feel less than 100%. I will eventually build a system that will alert everyone to when a mouse makes a noise that suggests that they need attention. This will mean that we can take even better care of them than we already do!

  • Photo: anon-251343

    anon-251343 commented on :

    So you test on stray dogs in India. Does that mean that you work in India? I’m Indian too!! 🇮🇳 🇮🇳

  • Photo: Luke

    Luke commented on :

    Hello! To study the brain, I use mice in my experiments. They are a useful model for experiments because they have most of the brain structures that humans have, so understanding the mouse brain can help us to understand the human brain, too. To understand the brain as a whole organ, we often do experiments that require us to look deep inside it, something not (usually) possible with humans. With mice, however, we can look deep inside the brain and understand what is going on! This does involve the mice we use being killed. This is done in a very humane way, and here in the UK we have some of the most strict rules in the world around how animals are used in experiments. This means their welfare is the number 1 priority. All animals used for experiments are checked daily by a dedicated team of people to make sure they are healthy and not showing outward signs of distress. As a researcher, I am very grateful to be able to use animals to further understand the brain and, hopefully, this information can be used to develop treatments for brain diseases in the future.

  • Photo: Andrew

    Andrew commented on :

    I don’t actually do animal testing for my experiments, but I have taken the course and have the qualifications you need to do animal testing. The course lasted a whole week and had an exam at the end – it was the first exam I have done since I was at university!

    To be able to do animal testing you have to comply with many different regulations. It’s very strictly controlled so that animals aren’t hurt unnecessarily, and people can get into very big trouble if they don’t do things properly.

  • Photo: Gabriela

    Gabriela commented on :

    I do research on diabetes which is a disease that affects whole body energy control, and affects different tissues. In order to study the system I need to use animal models that reflect similar effects of the disease as in humans. I use mice as there are many similarities between humans and mice in terms of how the tissues interact to control energy balance. We can also manipulate mouse genetics to look at the genetic elements that control disease risk. Most of the work I do start off with experiments in cells grown on plates based on hypotheses that I generate by looking at human data. When I have a hypothesis, generated based on the observations I have made in the cells, that I need to test in a systems level then I will perform experiments on mice. Mostly I change diet compositions and see what that does so the I do procedures are mild. Animal experimentation is very tightly regulated in the U.K. and the tests have to be allowed by law, which are set to minimise distress to the animals.

  • Photo: Nina

    Nina commented on :

    I work in a lab that studies biological clocks at all levels – from molecules, to cells, to whole organisms. Most of our experiments use cells (human and mouse cells) and I do some research with healthy human volunteers. A small proportion of our work is with mice, and mice are only used when there is no suitable alternative to answer a given research question, and where the potential benefit of the research (in advancing biomedical knowledge and health) outweighs the potential harm to the animals. Because our work is focused on understanding daily (circadian) rhythms (our ‘body clocks’), it is sometimes necessary to confirm a discovery in cells using live animals – only then can we tell if our finding might have relevance at the whole-organism level. As you will know if you’ve ever had jet lag or a bad night’s sleep, it is very easy to disrupt our body clock – and over time, this can have a significant impact on health – circadian disruption has been linked to many diseases in humans and animals. Likewise, it is very easy to disrupt the body clocks of mice – and it’s their body clocks we are trying to measure so it’s essential to our work that the mice are happy and healthy at all times so that we can observe their true rhythms in behaviour. Most of our experiments are therefore ‘hands off’ – which basically means we monitor the natural activity of the mice remotely using computers (measuring on how much they run on a wheel, or move past an infrared motion sensor). This means that we rarely disturb the mice other than making sure they have all the food, water, and bedding they need. All researchers working with animals in the UK have to work within strict welfare guidelines and laws to ensure any stress or potential suffering is minimised. You also need to complete rigorous training and demonstrate your knowledge and skills before you can start work with animals. Working with animals in the lab carries a lot of responsibility. As a vet, it is extremely important to me that laboratory animals can have the best life possible within a controlled environment and are treated with care and respect. Not only does this safeguard animal welfare, it protects the quality of the data we collect from animals which means less waste in research, and overall fewer animals are needed to test a hypothesis. Everything we do with animals is geared towards the ‘3Rs’ – reduction, replacement, and refinement. You can learn more about the 3Rs here: https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/the-3rs

  • Photo: Rachel

    Rachel commented on :

    Animals are used in testing new TB vaccines (and vaccines for most other diseases), but part of my work is about finding new ways to test them so that fewer animals are used and they don’t need to be infected. Lots of scientists are working on new methods to replace animal testing – I wrote an article about this in ‘Frontiers for Young Minds’ that you might be interested in:

    https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2018.00044