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Three teams have successfully completed CRACK IT Challenges this year, launching 3Rs products and services that are now available to refine rodent recovery after surgery and replace animal models of skeletal muscle injury and endocrine disruption. With 39 Challenges now completed, explore all the 3Rs technologies developed through the CRACK IT programme on our 3Rs Products page and learn more about the outputs of the Rodent Shelter, STRATIS and Thyroid Tox Challenges below.
Rodent Shelter: A modular in-cage recovery shelter for rodents
A team at NestLab, led by Mr Alonso Sanchez Maltese, have developed a modular, in-cage recovery shelter for laboratory mice and rats that provides controlled warmth and non-invasive welfare monitoring following surgery. Refining post-operative care is critical to supporting a rodent's recovery and to minimising pain and distress. Following surgery, animals are often housed singly and enrichment is removed to protect wounds and implants, while rodents remain susceptible to hypothermia during recovery. The NestLab shelter is offered as a range of nodes which can be combined to suit users needs, from post-operative recovery to everyday housing. It is wireless and fits standard rodent cages without rack modifications. Challenge Sponsors AstraZeneca and the University of Gothenburg worked with the team to ensure the NestLab shelter met end-user requirements by conducting pilot studies with mice to test prototypes. Larger housing for rats is also available and underdoing testing.
Learn more about NestLab and the Rodent Shelter Challenge.
STRATIS: Human 3D skeletal muscle tissue assays for preclinical testing
Myomaker Bio is a contract research organisation spun out of Loughborough University by Professor Mark Lewis and Dr Andrew Capel. Their portfolio of human cell-based assays can be used to model acute toxicity, drug efficacy and muscle biology spanning health, exercise, injury, ageing and regeneration. Typical in vivo models involve surgical injury in rodents, raising welfare concerns and offering limited translational value to humans, while existing in vitro and ex vivo systems do not fully recapitulate human muscle structure or the pathology of injury. The human tissue models developed through the STRATIS Challenge replicate key physiological features of skeletal muscle injury, including the capability to measure real-time tissue contractility, volumetric muscle loss and regenerative responses, and allow candidate therapeutics to be evaluated in a disease specific context without the use of animals. The Challenge was sponsored by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), who co-funded the award alongside the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Learn more about Myomaker Bio and the STRATIS Challenge.
Thyroid Tox: In silico models of thyroid receptor mediated endocrine disruption
Working with Challenge Sponsors Shell and Syngenta, a team from KREATiS led by Dr Paul Thomas has developed a QSAR model and 3D molecular docking tool to predict human thyroid receptor-mediated endocrine disruption caused by chemicals. Assessment of thyroid receptor mediated endocrine disruption currently relies on animal studies and limited in vitro assays, particularly for investigating receptor specific mechanisms of action. One model developed through the Thyroid Tox Challenge, iVEMPS THR, predicts potential agonistic or antagonistic activity at thyroid receptors, while SESAME 3D provides structure based insight into receptor binding. These in silico models support the identification of chemicals with the potential to disrupt thyroid hormone signalling and offer an alternative to some animal studies in developmental and reproductivity toxicity testing.