Experiences with planning animal studies: improved scientific output and animal welfare

Details:

For more details and registration, please email Tatum Chan at chan.tatum@cityu.edu.hk .

Abstract:

Scientists have been used to criticism from the animal rights movement for decades, but more recently, scientists have themselves raised concerns about the reproducibility and translatability of preclinical in vivo research. In addition, it has become increasingly clear that research animals which are in harmony with their environment not only have improved welfare but they also produce scientific data which more closely reflects true baseline values, and which makes it easier to detect treatment effects.

Efforts to improve the scientific rigour and reproducibility of animal experiments have tended to focus on improved reporting and so-called "experimental design". A group of Norwegian and British scientists has produced a set of guidelines, called PREPARE, which are designed to help in the process of designing and conducting robust and valid animal studies.

PREPARE is a voluntary aide memoire, and it is not intended to be yet another bureaucratic hurdle in the way of science. Indeed, by alerting scientists to potential challenges at a very early stage, PREPARE should make it considerably easier to address questions posed to them later during the publication process. A win-win situation for science, human safety and animal welfare.

PREPARE is available at https://norecopa.no/PREPARE

Reference:

Smith AJ, Clutton RE, Lilley E, Hansen KEA & Brattelid T (2018): PREPARE: Guidelines for Planning Animal Research and Testing. Laboratory Animals, 52(2): 135-141. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0023677217724823

Biography:

Professor Adrian Smith is Secretary of the Norwegian 3Rs platform Norecopa (https://norecopa.no)

Adrian is a British veterinarian who graduated from Cambridge University in 1979. After a year in mixed practice in the UK he emigrated to Norway where he has lived since. For much of this time he was employed by the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science. He held the Chair in Laboratory Animal Science from 1988 and was an active ECLAM diplomate until he left the School in 2011. He was heavily involved in the work of introducing mandatory training in laboratory animal science in Norway, and has arranged over 50 courses for all personnel categories. He has been the Secretary of Norway's consensus-platform for the 3Rs, Norecopa (https://norecopa.no) since it was established in 2007. He has a special interest in 3R resources and has co-authored several databases in this area. He is also a Board Member of the Danish 3R centre. He is lead author of the PREPARE guidelines for planning animal experiments.

Relevant publications:

Smith AJ (2020): Guidelines for planning and conducting high-quality research and testing on animals. Lab Anim Res 36, 21.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s42826-020-00054-0

Smith AJ, Clutton RE, Lilley E, Hansen KEA & Brattelid T (2017): PREPARE: Guidelines for Planning Animal Research and Testing. Laboratory Animals, 52(2): 135-141. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0023677217724823