VSAO Journal 2024

Fokus Tierversuchsethik und 3R

Mit verantwortungsbewusster Forschung zu mehr Tierwohl Tiermodelle sind in vielen Forschungsbereichen (noch) unverzichtbar. Es gibt jedoch diverse Bestrebungen, Tierversuche zu ersetzen, die Anzahl der Tiere zu reduzieren oder die Haltungsbedingungen zu verbessern. Ein Überblick. PD Dr. Paulin Jirkof, 3R-Koordinatorin, Abteilung Tierwohl und 3R, Universität Zürich

UZH News 2024

"Less Stress, Better Science": Our project leader Prof. Urs Meyer talks in an interview with the UZH News about Rodent MDA, and how it all began. Image by MELS UZH

3RCC Award Interview

To recognize his outstanding contribution to the promotion of the 3Rs principle, the Swiss 3RCC presented its 2020 Young 3Rs Investigator Award to PhD student Joseph Scarborough for his work in Prof. Urs Meyer’s laboratory at the Institute of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Zurich. Scarborough developed a novel method (MDA) to administer pharmaceutical substances to mice with a sweetened solution using a small pipette, thus motivating the animals to voluntarily take the pharmaceutical substances. This MDA method development was awarded for its reduction of the animals' stress, for improving their welfare, and therefore also for the quality of study results. In this video, Prof Urs Meyer explains the method, its benefits, and its impact on refinement.

Frontiers for Young Minds Article 2022

Refining Research to Improve the Lives of Laboratory Mice

Some scientific research includes experiments performed using animals. Many of the animals used in research are sentient, which means they have emotions or feelings that are probably similar to the positive and negative emotions that humans experience. Some experiments can cause animals to experience negative emotions like pain or fear. While animals can sometimes be replaced with other methods or used sparingly, in other situations there is no easy way to perform experiments without using animals. In these cases, scientists can protect animals by using refinement, which describes all efforts to improve the housing conditions, care, and scientific procedures that the animals experience. Refinement aims to avoid or lessen negative experiences or pain and to improve the animals’ wellbeing. For example, scientists work hard to develop methods to give drugs to mice without using force, or to pick mice up more gently so the animals do not feel stress.