News

Researchers from the University of Oxford have created a new approach to reduce the use of thousands of animals used annually for assessing the developmental and reproductive toxicity (DART) potential of new chemicals. The CombiDART platform combines two non-vertebrate model systems (the nematode C. elegans and the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum) to rapidly assess compounds for DART, whilst also providing information on mechanism of action. 

The Neuroinformatics lab at Newcastle University has developed Vertex, a computational model of the mammalian brain that can reproduce activity observed in ex vivo tissue. This model can be used to estimate the effect of intervention on the activity in different cortical layers and could replace some animal use during basic research, the early stages of medical device development or pharmacological drug discovery.

Traditionally, researchers have two options for procuring tissue/cells from rats and mice:

1. Researchers can order animals from breeders and maintain colonies at their own facilities.  This is expensive, time consuming, and results in a large amount of wasted tissue as most  animals are used to source a single tissue type.

2. Researchers can order commercially available cryopreserved cells. These cells lack traceability and are an inferior product to fresh tissues because they are exposed to harsh freeze/thaw cycles resulting in reduced cell viability.

Experimental tests must be performed to evaluate the skin/eye irritation potential of a substance. Currently, this means an in vitro test first, but if inconclusive it may be followed by OECD 404 and OECD 405 in vivo studies, for skin and eye irritation, respectively. These studies are invasive and can utilise more than 250 rabbits per year. Alternative approaches to in vivo testing have been developed, but until now QSARs have not been completely successful for predicting skin/eye irritation.

Assessment of animal welfare is essential, not only to meet legislative requirements for review of severity but also to identify areas where the experience of an animal can be improved in terms of environment or by refinement of experimental techniques, leading to less variable data from the use of less stressed animals. Until now, this has been a largely qualitative process relying on researchers, veterinarians and animal technicians making and recording observations of welfare throughout the animals’ lifetime experience.

The 2017 CRACK IT Challenges were launched on 7 September at an event in central London where Challenge Sponsors presented their Challenges to potential applicants. The Sponsor presentations and Challenge-specific Q&A documents can be accessed through the links below.

There are three 2017 Challenges: