Animal-free cell cultures

Stina Oredsson is a professor at the Department of Biology at Lund University. Her research is based on modern cell culture that is completely free from animal products. 

Many products that have been isolated from animals are traditionally used in a cell culture, mainly in various media that the cells need in order to grow and survive. Stina is trying to switch to cell culture that is completely free of animal products. It is not just an ethical question, but rather a scientific question to use the best method that mimics human physiology. 

— If we want to use cell culture to understand processes in human cells, we have to start from human conditions and environment that exists in our body, Stina says.

Read the entire interview with Stina (jordbruksverket.se)

Researchers' week for upper secondary school

The last week in September, a Science Festival called Researchers' Week (ForkarFredag) was celebrated in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe. The aim is to draw attention to science and what it is like to be a researcher, mainly to a younger audience. 

The Swedish 3Rs Center met students from upper secondary school together with three researchers to talk about the 3Rs. The Center joined Joëlle Rüegg from Uppsala University, Elin Törnqvist from the National Veterinary Institute and Lotta Nilsson from RISE. All talks were arranged together with the Swedish association Public & Science. 

Toxicology and Cell models 

Joëlle Rüegg is Professor of Environmental Toxicology at Uppsala University. Her research is about hormone-disruption and neurodevelopment. In her work, she develops new cell models, which she will talk about on Researchers' Week. 

 — As a researcher using non-animal models, I have to reflect on which model to use to get a reliable result. For me, it is obvious to reflect on my methods and constantly try to develop new models that are better suited for the purpose

Read the entire interview with Joëlle (jordbruksverket.se)

Researchers' Night (forskarfredag.se)

3Rs work at Umeå University

Umeå University uses several different animal species in research and teaching. Learn about their work on health, sustainable breeding and clear experimentation descriptions. 

At the Centre for Comparative Biology they have about 7 500 rodents, the majority of which are mice. There is also a zebrafish facility. Twelve animal technicians in total work at the facilities, which are connected to 60 research groups. 

Gauze pad has replaced sentinel mice 

Representatives from the university describes how they work with health inventory and hygiene. A good example of the 3Rs is how they have phased out all sentinel animals, i.e. the animals that are used to track contagion. The method with sentinels is to expose the animals to old bedding material with urine and faeces from cages that are tested for infection, i.e. the sentinels are exposed to a bad environment. 

 — We do our health inventories by attaching a gauze pad over the outlet air pipe in the cages rack, and any pathogens that travel on dust particles can be captured. Pieces of the gauze pad are then sent for analysis, which is a safer and cheaper method than using sentinels.

Read the entire interview with Umeå University (jordbruksverket.se

The marine eco system and the 3Rs

Every second year, researchers, funders and authorities come together from all over the world to learn about pollution and climate change in the marine eco system. In May, the University of Gothenburg hosted the symposium PRIMO.   

To replace live fish in studies

Two presentations focused on replacing fish with in vitro cultures of fish gills for toxicity studies. One of them uses a standard cell culture to replace fish in bioaccumulation studies, whereas the other works to refine studies with a flow through system. In a flow through system, the researchers have managed to develop a functioning structure consisting of layers of cells, but hope to be able to build a fully functioning gill in the future. 

The program then moved on to whether it is possible to study prolonged stress in fish by measuring prevalence of hormones, such as cortisol, in scales. Researchers who study other animal species use similar methods and can measure cortisol in hair and feathers as a way of measuring stress. The results obtained in fish scales seem to be similar to those in mammals and birds. 

Poster session about the 3Rs 

The symposium also presented a large poster session and the 3Rs Center met some of the authors to learn more about their work. You can read more about the posters at our website.

Read the article from the symposium (jordbruksverket.se)

Template on humane endpoints for animals in research

The Swedish National Committee for the Protection of Animals used for Scientific Purposes and its group of experts have developed an assessment template on humane endpoints for animals in research. 

The template is intended as a support for researchers, veterinarians, approved supervisors and animal caretakers. It can be used to assess the animals’ health before, during and after a study to estimate if the animals’ health has deteriorated, as well as to decide if the humane endpoint has been reached.

The template is of a general character and can be complemented with criteria adjusted for specific research models. It is written in both Swedish and English. The document is published in a Word-format, so that it can be used digitally.

Template: Support for assessment of ill health in rodents (jordbruksverket.se)

Short films about replacing animal models

The Swedish 3Rs Center produces short films about how to replace animal experimentation with non-animal methods. This fall, two new films are published; one about replacement in general and another one about cell modelling. 

The films are made in both Swedish and English and they are meant to be used as a starting point to discuss replacement and choice of research methods.

Films about replacing animal models (jordbruksverket.se)