Question 1

The 3Rs: What are Medical Scientists Doing about Animal Testing?

Accepted Answer

As part of a series called Frontiers for Young Minds, Rachel Tanner has written an educational resource for kids about animal research called The 3Rs: What are Medical Scientists Doing about Animal Testing?

Question 2

JAX Online MicroLessons and MiniCourses

Accepted Answer

Self-paced online learning from the genetics and genomics experts at The Jackson Laboratory, designed for graduate students, postdocs, research assistants, early career scientists, lab technicians and more.

JAX Online MicroLessons and MiniCourses

Self-paced online learning from the genetics and genomics experts at The Jackson Laboratory, designed for graduate students, postdocs, research assistants, early career scientists, lab technicians and more.

JAX ONLINE MICROLESSONS

Have 15 minutes or less? Engage with introductory genetics and genomics topics by enrolling in a free Online MicroLesson.

JAX ONLINE MINICOURSES

Have a couple hours? Expand your knowledge by enrolling in a free Online MiniCourse, designed for in-depth learning about foundational genetics and genomics topics.

Select MiniCourses are available in Spanish and Mandarin.

Question 3

Virtual Lab Animal Tour

Accepted Answer

Understanding Animal Research have released their Lab Animal Tour, a ‘street view’ into four animal research facilities in the UK. This digital tour allows users to move around the University of Bristol, University of Oxford, Mary Lyon Centre at the MRC Harwell, and The Pirbright Institute, providing the viewer with 360 degree vision of animal rooms and surgical suites.

Along with exploring the facilities' rooms, the Lab Animal Tour also allows visitors to find out more information about the work carried out in each room and includes videos showing mice, cows, pigs and monkeys in the lab animal setting. The project aim to allow the public much greater access to see how the animals are housed, what research is carried out and how this is done.

Question 4

ALURES Statistical EU Database

Accepted Answer

The ALURES Statistical EU Database offers free access to all interested in obtaining more information on animal use in the EU. Currently ALURES allows for datamining at EU level. National data are published annually by the Member States. From 2023, national data will also be accessible through ALURES.

ALURES Statistical EU Database - Access Page

ALURES from data to information and knowledge – for replacing animals in science - Video Introduction

Making the use of animals in science more transparent - PDF

Question 5

Changing mouse handling practice at a university establishment - blog post

Accepted Answer

Lesley Gilmour is the University of Glasgow’s Named Training and Competency Officer (NTCO), responsible for ensuring that all those working with animals are appropriately trained, supervised and competent. In this NC3Rs blog post, she shares her experience of implementing refined mouse handling across the institution, including some top tips.

nc3rs.org.uk/news/changing-mouse-handling-practice-university-establishment

Question 6

A Technician-led Approach to Altering the Culture of Care Regarding Blood Sampling Poster

Accepted Answer

A Technician-led Approach to Altering the Culture of Care Regarding Blood Sampling Poster.

Developed by Nicholas Kaye, BRF Research Scientist, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/hwAzJt6PVl/resources/ZqBZYvKbx8/Culture%20of%20Care%20Regarding%20Blood%20Sampling.png (Culture of Care Regarding Blood Sampling.png)

Culture of Care Regarding Blood Sampling Poster (PDF:23MB)

Question 7

LASA DOPS website

Accepted Answer

www.lasa.co.uk/dops

A publicly-available resource which is invaluable in disseminating good practice through the animal research community, and complements other training and competency resources.

Includes an extensive list of DOPS (Direct Observation of Procedural/ Practical Skills) for different procedures from housing and handling to surgery in different species.

Question 8

Genetic quality assurance and genetic monitoring of laboratory mice and rats: FELASA Working Group Report

Accepted Answer

Genetic quality assurance (QA), including genetic monitoring (GeMo) of inbred strains and background characterization (BC) of genetically altered (GA) animal models, should be an essential component of any QA programme in laboratory animal facilities. Genetic quality control is as important for ensuring the validity of the animal model as health and microbiology monitoring are. It should be required that studies using laboratory rodents, mainly mice and rats, utilize genetically defined animals. This paper, presented by the FELASA Working Group on Genetic Quality Assurance and Genetic Monitoring of Laboratory Murines, describes the objectives of and available methods for genetic QA programmes in rodent facilities. The main goals of any genetic QA programme are: (a) to verify the authenticity and uniformity of inbred stains and substrains, thus ensuring a genetically reliable colony maintenance; (b) to detect possible genetic contamination; and (c) to precisely describe the genetic composition of GA lines. While this publication focuses mainly on mouse and rat genetic QA, the principles will apply to other rodent species some of which are briefly mentioned within the context of inbred and outbred stocks.

DOI: 10.1177/0023677219867719

Question 9

Mouse Genome Informatics

Accepted Answer

MGI is the international database resource for the laboratory mouse, providing integrated genetic, genomic, and biological data to facilitate the study of human health and disease. The projects contributing to this resource are:

Mouse Genome Database (MGD) Project - MGD includes data on gene characterization, nomenclature, mapping, gene homologies among vertebrates, sequence links, phenotypes, allelic variants and mutants, and strain data. See About MGD.
Gene Expression Database (GXD) Project - GXD integrates different types of gene expression information from the mouse and provides a searchable index of published experiments on endogenous gene expression during development. See Gene Expression Database (GXD) and About the Gene Expression Database (GXD).
Mouse Models of Human Cancer database (MMHCdb) Project - MMHCdb integrates data on the frequency, incidence, genetics, and pathology of neoplastic disorders, emphasizing data on tumors that develop characteristically in different genetically defined strains of mice. See Mouse Models of Human Cancer database and Mouse Models of Human Cancer database User Help Reference.
Gene Ontology (GO) Project at MGI - The Mouse Genome Informatics group is a founding member of the Gene Ontology Consortium (www.geneontology.org). MGI fully incorporates the GO in the database and provides a GO browser. See Functional Annotation using the Gene Ontology (GO) and The Gene Ontology (GO) Project.
Cre Resources (CrePortal) Project - The CrePortal Project collects and annotates and integrates expression and activity data for recombinase-containing transgenes and knock-in alleles. See the Recombinase Portal.
MouseMine Project - MouseMine is a powerful new system for accessing MGI data, using the InterMine framework. As a member of the InterMOD consortium, the MouseMine project also represents a new mechanism for cooperation between MGI and other MODs. See MouseMine, About the MouseMine data warehouse resource, and InterMine.
Alliance of Genome Resources - The Alliance's goal is to provide a consistent user interface with an integrated view of data from 6 Model Organism Databases and the GO Consortium. See Alliance of Genome Resources and About The Alliance.

Credit: informatics.jax.org

Question 10

Zebrafish Health Conditions Poster

Accepted Answer

Zebrafish Health Conditions Poster.

Developed by Micah Rai Dupont at The University of Warwick.

Zebrafish Health Conditions Poster (PDF:1MB)