12.08.2024

Insights from the 3RCC Webinar: Avoidance of Surplus in Research

Insights from the 3RCC Webinar: Avoidance of Surplus in Research - June 6th, 2024

“Sending the laboratory animals into a study is the goal, and everything else is just senseless” – Filippo Gallegra, supervisor of animal database operations at Novartis, perfectly summarized the necessity of the webinar: introducing and discussing sustainable and efficient strategies in animal breeding to avoid surplus animals, animals that have been bred but end up not being used in studies.

The online webinar on June 6th, 2024, was co-organized and chaired by the ETH with Dr. Torsten Johannes Promny (Head Veterinarian at ETH Zurich’s Phenomic Center), the University of Bern (Dr. Alessanda Bergadamo, Head of Experimental Animal Center, and Dr Homare Yamahachi, Assistant to 3Rs coordinator and Executive Board member of the Swiss 3RCC), and the Swiss 3RCC. The event was attended by around 330 participants with diverse backgrounds from institutions all over the world. International experts from academia and industry shared insights into their challenges regarding surplus animals and approaches to overcome these.

The webinar was initiated by a co-presentation from Novartis with Dr. Daniel Breustedt, leader of the Breeding Coordination Scientific Operations team and Filippo Gallegra, Vivarium Operations Supervisor. Daniel first explained, why more animals are born than are actually used in experiments. Breeding genetically modified lines inevitably results – described by Mendel’s law of inheritance – in a part of the offspring not carrying the desired genetic feature. Smart breeding strategies can reduce the number of surplus animals. Starting in 2015, Novartis tackled the problem of surplus animals at their facility by introducing a Breeding Coordination Team that receives the researcher’s demand on experimental animals, calculates the breeding and communicates it to the animal caretakers. While the animals delivered to the researchers for their experiments remained fairly constant, Novartis was able to reduce animals born in the facility by 36 %, equal to 20 000 animals, over two years. In a next phase, the Breeding Coordination Team started forecasting the demand for every quarter – indicating fluctuating trends in the upcoming workload.

Dr. Sarah Hart-Johnson, Director of the Biological Research Facility at the Francis Crick Institute in the UK, shared key aspects of their colony management strategy. The biggest impact came from establishing a dedicated colony management team providing support and training to staff and scientists. Moreover, to encourage reduction in animal numbers, the Crick Institute provides a free central supply for wild type and common genetically modified lines, as well as cryopreservation and intravital fertilization services to its researchers. Since the team started operating, the Crick Institute was able to drive down surplus animal numbers by around 30 %.

Med. Vet. Kevin Weber-Wilk leads the Central Animal Facility at the Experimental Animal Center at the University of Bern, and presented how setting up timed breeding schedules to reach a defined birthing window of rats enabled them to reduce surplus animals by 90 %. From a young age on, the rats are trained with positive reinforcement using treats to voluntarily change cages or go onto a scale on their own, which also refines the monitoring of potentially pregnant females as they grow older.

Dr. Philippe Bugnon, Head of education at the Institute of Laboratory Animal Science at the University of Zurich, got the chance to present as a grant awardee of the 3RCC Targeted Call 2023 entitled Advancing Responsibility: Reducing Surplus Animals and Promoting Change. He outlined an update on his project aimed at developing software to support decisions on the correct breeding strategy to avoid surplus animals. First, he and his collaborators Prof. Thorsten Buch and Prof. Frank Brand, developed a software that can calculate the number of matings required to get a certain number of the desired offspring with a defined probability. Second, the software will be updated to manage breeding for a larger cohort, for example to manage a wild type colony at a facility. Third, the goal of the funded project is to develop the software further, so that it can compare various different breeding strategies and identify the one that produces the smallest number of animals.

Prof. Dr. Ori Bar-Nur, group leader of the Laboratory of Regenerative and Movement Biology at ETH Zurich, had the opportunity to introduce his research as grant recipient of the 3RCC Targeted Call 2023. He presented his work to optimize transgenic animal derivation by utilizing sterile hosts and sex-specific genetic reporters. His approach may reform the conventional way of producing transgenic animals, reducing breeding steps and surplus animals.

Dr. Camilla Aniballi, deputy head of the Mu28 Mouse Breeding Facility at the University of Bern, presented a project where they assessed in vitro and in vivo the sterility of black-coated PRM1-EGFP male mice, whose genotype first thought to be surplus among the offspring of a certain breeding.

Last, Dr. Jean Cozzi, Innovation Manager at the Genetically Engineered Animal Models and Services Europe at Charles River Laboratories, shared several approaches developed and implemented in his company: by using intravital fertilization over conventional mating, they derive, on average, 60 % more embryos and 70 % more live pups, saving over 4 000 female animals per year. Using in vitro genotyping of embryos or sperm for the quality control of cryopreservation and sperm freezing, they were able to save 6-12 animals per quality control. Finally, by using electroporation instead of microinjection to genetically engineer genomes, they can save animals that would otherwise be required for additional breeding steps.

Besides the high impact of all those strategies in reducing surplus animals, several speakers also highlighted the positive impact on workload, costs and the culture of care. Fillipo Gallegra emphasised how important it is for the animal caretakers that as many animals as possible can  be sent into meaningful studies. The time saved by the reduced workload is well spent on breeding coordination and extra animal checks.

The webinar was closed with an engaging panel discussion. Throughout the event, attendees actively participated by asking thoughtful questions, highlighting their interest in a topic that is often neglected, despite the frequent use of animals in research. By organizing the webinar about the Avoidance of Surplus Animals in Research, accredited for half a day of continuing education, the Swiss 3RCC pursued its educational mission focused on promoting ethical research. The event provided a valuable opportunity to learn from international experts about different efforts and approaches to reduce surplus animals. Thus, this initiative has made a significant contribution to avoiding surplus animals and promoting the 3Rs in laboratories around the world.

If you missed the webinar or would like to rewatch it, the recordings will soon be available on the Swiss 3RCC website.