Latest news from the NC3Rs: January 2023

We have launched a new collaboration with the Milner Therapeutics Institute (MTI) as part of our Technologies to Tools (T2T) programme. MTI will apply their functional genomics expertise to translate NC3Rs-funded cell-based disease models into industry-ready products and services.

A new issue of our Tech3Rs newsletter for animal technicians is available online to read and print for your facility. In this edition we highlight resources to improve the welfare of mice in high-yield behavioural experiments, showcase the technician-led refinements for rats taking place at the University of Dundee, and interview University of Cambridge Licence Manager Selina Ballantyne about her career journey.

Each quarter we will be highlighting an area of work from within our portfolio or one of our resources. First up: Evaluating environmental enrichment, a website resource produced in collaboration with the RSPCA and IAT. The aim is to empower technical staff to undertake robust evaluations of environmental enrichment items and assess their impact on animal welfare. In March we will be running a workshop on this approach at IAT Congress in the UK, and we will be opening registration soon for a webinar to increase the reach to participants globally later this year.

We are inviting potential Sponsors to submit new ideas for Single Phase CRACK IT Challenges for the 2023 competition. As a Sponsor, your organisation will set a Challenge to develop a product that addresses an unmet scientific and 3Rs need, providing in-kind support and end-user input. In return, you will receive early access to new technologies developed through your Challenge.

Two teams have been awarded funding to carry out Phase 1 proof-of-concept studies for the 2022 CRACK IT Challenge T-ALERT. This Challenge aims to develop an in vitro assay to evaluate the tumourigenicity of human-engineered T cell therapies and replace the use of in vivo studies in mice.

We have launched two new collaboration calls through the konfer smart-matching technology tool to accelerate the commercial readiness of technologies with 3Rs potential.

• Alcyomics are looking to collaborate with investigators to further validate an in vitro model of osteoarthritis using novel compounds or drugs.
• Pebble Biotechnology Laboratories (PBL) are seeking collaborations with organisations to use PBL’s novel organ perfusion systems to accelerate preclinical testing of novel therapies.

If you are interested in collaborating on these projects, we would love to hear from you.

Thursday 30 March, 14.00 – 15.00 (GMT)

Our Experimental Design Assistant (EDA) tool can help researchers at any level design robust in vivo experiments. Following a presentation on the key aspects of the online tool, Dr Esther Pearl (NC3Rs Experimental Design Programme Manager) will answer questions on how you can use the EDA to design and plan your next study. Limited spaces are available on a first come first served basis.

Monday 23 – Wednesday 25 January

Responsible Research in Practice in collaboration with Norecopa (Norway’s National Consensus Platform for the advancement of the 3Rs) are offering this live and interactive course across three days, to support researchers working with animals to implement the PREPARE (Planning Research and Experimental Procedures on Animals: Recommendations for Excellence) guidelines.

Thursday 26 January, 13.00 – 17.00

Organised by the National Centre for Snakebite Research & Interventions at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, this free online meeting will discuss the current snake venom lethality murine model. It will consist of talks from experts in animal models, snakebite envenoming, drug regulation and antivenom manufacture and will finish with a panel discussion of the requirements and development of a refined or alternative model.

This mini conference has been organised by NC3Rs project grant holder Dr Stuart Ainsworth.