Congress 2021 Handbook : simplebooklet.com

GENERAL INFORMATION Welcome from the Congress Committee 2Tech Month 4General Information 5AAALAC Fellowship Announcement 6AS-ET Online Auction 7Trade Partners Treasure Hunt 9IAT Annual General Meeting Agenda 11Andrew Blake Tribute Award 2020 12Andrew Blake Tribute Award 2021 16Animal Technology and Welfare Journal Prize 2020 19Best Poster Prize 21At A Glance – Full Programme 22Tech Month Bingo 64Index to Advertisers 78AST2020 Sponsorship IBCCongress 2022 OBCSCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME Paper Presentations 25Kevin Dolan Memorial Lecture 44Workshop Sessions 46Poster Displays 56TRADE EXHIBITIONFlash Trade Sessions 74 Trade Interactive Forums 75Virtual Exhibition 79Animal Technology - where good science communication is vitalThe IAT roundel logo is a registered trademarkof the Institute of Animal TechnologyC21 e-Handbook Contents

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2 General InformationWELCOMEWelcome from the IAT Congress CommitteeDear DelegateWell, what a year! This time last March we should have been in Edinburgh, enjoying the largest conference for Animal Technologists in the UK. However, to quote Robert Burns, “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry” and the plans were so well laid! We just had not taken into account COVID-19. We wish to say a big thank you to all those who have continued to support us through this difﬁcult year and to assure you that we do always try our best to make the annual conference, be it an IAT or joint event, as successful as possible for all concerned.As lockdowns and the after effects of the pandemic are still affecting the world, Congress 2021 will be our ﬁrst virtual Congress. We will offer our usual mix of presentations and Workshops, along with Poster Displays and the chance to receive the latest news from our Trade Partners.Whilst virtual conferences are now more commonplace, we felt that we should spread out the event during Tech Month this year. Hopefully by offering shorter sessions, evenly spaced over a longer time frame, we can offer something for everyone.Posters displays feature on the Congress 2021 website throughout the event.You can watch the Paper Presentations live, or catch up on them via the website later on. They will be available to watch throughout the month. Workshops will be interactive.Trade Exhibitors will be updating you on their latest innovations and products during the two minute ﬂash sessions, as well as via the timed Drop-In Forums. For a quick At A Glance reference on the full programme, see pages 22-23.There will also be a chance to win prizes with the Virtual Treasure Hunt competition. Details are available on the Congress website.We wish you a very enjoyable Congress 2021. As always, we are keen to receive your feedback or any comments on this event. We will send out a survey at the end of the month. Please take a few moments to complete this as it will help us to provide an improved event in future years.We hope you ﬁnd Congress 2021 interesting and stimulating, and we look forward to getting back to a face-to-face Congress in 2022.All information is included in this Handbook. For a quick guide, check out the websitehttps://eu.eventscloud.com/website/2712/home IAT Congress Committee

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Now more so than in previous years we would like to take time to recognise the important roles Technicians perform within our industry and celebrate the huge efforts that have been made during this pandemic. Tech Month is going to have a different feel this year due to the current climate we ﬁnd ourselves in.It will be running from the 1st of March and throughout the virtual Congress.We will be running two national events. The IAT will be hosting an online quiz every week through March 2021 so make sure you go to the website to take part. There will be the choice of an IAT Hoodie or Polo shirt for the weekly winners and an Amazon voucher worth £100 for the overall winner. There will also be a new event running for 2021 called Technician Bingo. This will involve carrying out certain challenges throughout March. There will be a weekly prize draw for all entries completing a bingo line and an overall prize draw for all entries completing a Bingo Full House. Check out the IAT website www.iat.org.uk for more information and to register for Technician Bingo.Institute of Animal TechnologyIT’S HERE …

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GENERAL INFORMATIONDuring Congress the Committee can be contacted via email congress@iat.org.uk or telephone 0800 085 4380Access all sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from 9th March to 25th March and join our trade partners in the mornings on those days in their interactive sessions via the Virtual lobby for registered delegates.https://eu.eventscloud.com/website/2712/For a quick reference to check times/days, see the AT A GLANCE Full Programme on pages 22-23.© Copyright Institute of Animal Technology 2021This e-Handbook is subject to copyright with all rights reserved. No part may be reproduced, by any means, without prior written permission of the Institute of Animal Technology and the Publisher. Reproduction in whole or part without the express written permission of the copyright holders is prohibited.Registered Ofﬁce:Institute of Animal Technology, 5 South Parade, Summertown, Oxford OX2 7JL, UKAll information contained is correct at time of publication.Published on behalf of the IAT by PRC Associates Ltd.AGM The 35th Annual General Meeting of the Institute of Animal Technology takes place at 14.00 hrs on Tuesday, 9th March.President, Robin Lovell-Badge, CEO/Chair of Council, Linda Horan, Honorary Treasurer, Glyn Fisher and Honorary Secretary, Simon Cumming will be in attendance.A full Agenda appears on page 11 and attendance is open to ALL delegates. PAPER SESSIONSPaper Sessions commence with our Keynote Speaker, Wendy Jarrett from Understanding Animal Research on Tuesday 9th March.We also thank Will Reynolds, Head of ASRU, for joining us to give an update on Thursday 25th March. Full details for all the papers and presenters appear on pages 25 to 43.5General InformationSession sponsored by

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General Information6GENERAL INFORMATIONKEVIN DOLAN MEMORIAL LECTURE (KDML)On the last day of Congress, Gerry Creighton, Global Elephant Care makes a welcome return to talk to us about his extensive work with Asian elephants. See the full details on pages 44-45.WORKSHOPS Nine workshops are taking place during Congress and attendance is IAT CPD accredited. See the Workshops section starting on page …… for a full review and details on the presenters.Session sponsored byAAALAC Fellowship – Coming soon!The AAALAC Committee have made the very difﬁcult decision to postpone applications for the AAALAC Fellowship for 2021. Uncertainty about international travel restrictions and whether facilities will be able to host visitors means that the Fellowship programme has been paused for 2021.However we are very excited to announce that when we return to the programme in 2022, we will be launching our new application process. This will be a simpliﬁed, online application and will be accessed via the AAALAC website. Details on how to apply can be found on the AAALAC website (www.aaalac.org/awards/fellowship-award), as well as via links from the AALAS (www.aalas.org) and IAT (www.iat.org.uk) websites.

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GENERAL INFORMATIONGeneral Information9TRADE PARTNERS All details appear on the following pages:BOTH FLASH Trade Sessions - page 74.ALL INTERACTIVE 1 Hour Forums - page 75 onwards.The full VIRTUAL Exhibition - page 79 onwards. TRADE PARTNER TREASURE HUNTTake part in our Trade Partner Treasure Hunt during Congress. Download the Treasure Map and hunt for the answers to the questions.You may ﬁnd the answers on our Trade Partners websites, in the Virtual Exhibition, or during one of their interactive sessions or within their product literature.No prize for this extra question, except the satisfaction that you found it! Can you spot the mistake on the treasure map?Your answers can be submitted online via the Congress 2021 website and the winner of the valuable treasure will be drawn after Congress.Good luck!Integrated services:From custommodel generation,to contract breeding,to cryopreservationExplore our portfolio at envigo.comPreconditioningRederivation andcryopreservationCustom modelgenerationHealth statusverificationTransportationRealizeresearchefficienciesContractbreeding

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General Information11Notice of AGMTHIRTY-FIFTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE INSTITUTE OF ANIMAL TECHNOLOGY To be held virtually at 14.00hr on Tuesday 9th March 2021AGENDA1. Apologies for absence2. Minutes of the 34th Annual General Meeting of the Institute of Animal Technology held virtually on Wednesday 8th July 20203. Matters arising from the Minutes, which were published in full on the Members Section of the IAT website and an abridged version in the Bulletin Vol 56 No: 8 August 20204. Correspondence5. Annual Report / Council Objectives6. Financial Report7. Appointment of the Auditor 8. Election of Ofﬁcers: (i) President (ii) Vice Presidents (iii) Council 9. Proposals for Honorary and Life Memberships10. Any other businessTHE AGM IS OPEN TO ALL DELEGATESVoting rights are restricted to voting members only 1 Alan Thornhill 2 Alan Palmer 3 Nicky Gent 4 Sam Jameson 5 Theresa Langford 6 John Waters 7 Carole Wilson 8 Adrian Woodhouse 9 Carmen Abela 10 Di Hazlehurst 11 Robin LabesseCOUNCIL ELECTIONS 2020As there were eleven nominations for the eleven vacancies on Council, no ballot took place and therefore the following were elected to serve on Council for a three year term as from May 2020.Linda HoranCEO & Chair of CouncilSimon Cumming Honorary Secretary

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13General InformationANDREW BLAKE TRIBUTE AWARD 2020About the author:Stuart graduated in 1993 with a Diploma in Business Management, whilst living in New Zealand, and worked in supermarket logistics and management. He moved to the UK in 2004 and managed a sports retail store with a £5 million turnover per annum. In 2009, Stuart started working in the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University as a Manager and Primate trainer in Professor Mitchell’s laboratory. Professor Mitchell trained Stuart to work with the non human primates on her Medical Research Council (UK) funding (2009-2015). From 2014, he became the main primate trainer on the Wellcome Trust Strategic Award in Oxford and has now moved onto another Wellcome Trust award with Professor Mitchell and continues to support other Principle Investigators within the Oxford primate unit.Over the past 10 years, Stuart has trained over 100 macaque monkeys. As part of his current role he now trains researchers, technicians, and support staff to work with the primates ensuring that all involved succeed with their training each day.Stuart delivers many presentations in his area of expertise on primate training methods and renements, at UK and international conferences. He also co-organises practical primate neuroscience training and welfare workshops in the Oxford primate unit. Participants have attended these workshops from primate laboratories across the EU and China. Stuart and Professor Mitchell’s lab are now collaborating with colleagues at Newcastle University who also use primates in vital neuroscience research to develop the protective head cap renement for use after cranial implant surgery at that establishment as well.The Andrew Blake Tribute Award commemorates the work and life of Andrew Blake, who suffered from Friedrich’s ataxia, a hereditary condition described as one of the “worst of neurological diseases”. Andrew died in May 2002 aged 39. Andrew was passionate about the need to support scientists in their work and his commitment to speaking out against animal rights activists took up much of the last ten years of his life. He died shortly before he was to collect his MBE.

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16 General InformationANDREW BLAKE TRIBUTE AWARD 2021We all have a responsibility for the welfare of the animals in our care and it is often the little things that make a signicant difference. The Andrew Blake Tribute Award is awarded by the Institute of Animal Technology and sponsored by The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (the ABPI) to an Animal Technologist at any level, judged to have made a signicant contribution to improving laboratory animal welfare.The judges were impressed with all of the applications received and renements presented.The 2021 chosen winner is:Zoe Windsor MSc BSc(Hons) MIAT NACWOSenior Research Support TechnicianInstitute of Neurology, University College LondonFor her paper:‘Renements in head plate mouse nesting: using composite nests to enhance welfare’The paper will be presented on Tuesday 23rd March at 14.30.See page 35 for her paper abstract.Zoe will receive an engraved glass plaque and a total cash award of £250.00.ANDREW BLAKETRIBUTE AWARDANDREW BLAKETRIBUTE AWARD

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17General InformationANDREW BLAKE TRIBUTE AWARD 2021About the author:Zoe completed a BSc (Hons) in Animal Behaviour and Welfare and an MSc in Conservation Biology. She has been a licenced Animal Technologist for 7 years. Her career began at King’s College London before moving to UCL, where she currently works at the Institute of Neurology. She is passionate about animal welfare and chairs UCL’s technician culture of care group: Collective Laboratory Animal Welfare Society (CLAWS). Over the last few years Zoe has worked closely with mice with head stages and implants and is interested in investigating renements to improve their quality of life.The Andrew Blake Tribute Award commemorates the work and life of Andrew Blake, who suffered from Friedrich’s ataxia, a hereditary condition described as one of the “worst of neurological diseases”. Andrew died in May 2002 aged 39. Andrew was passionate about the need to support scientists in their work and his commitment to speaking out against animal rights activists took up much of the last ten years of his life. He died shortly before he was to collect his MBE.

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ATW The Ofﬁcial Publication of The Institute of Animal Technology (IAT)and European Federation of Animal Technologists (EFAT)NOW PERMANENTLY FREE FOR EVERYONE TO READ AND DOWNLOADThe implementation complies with Plan S, the multi-funder effort to ensure immediate open access to scientiﬁc publicationswww.atwjournal.comIAT JournalAnimal Technology and WelfareATW publishes peer-reviewed articles allied to animal science and technology, management and educationParticular encouragement is given to authors submitting papers promoting the 3Rs leading to improvements in environmental enrichment and the care and welfare of genetically altered animals ATW facilitates the Marjorie (Sandiford) Whittingham Memorial Prize awarded annually to the author of the best original peer-reviewed paperATW publishes technical notes describing new products, new or reﬁned techniques and new developmentsATW publishes papers and posters presented at international meetings, opinion articles, book reviews and relevant textsATW promotes the dissemination of ‘good practice’ATW promotes the recognition of Animal Technologists everywhereATW PROFILEATW aims to be the medium for AnimalTechnologists and all those concerned withthe care and welfare of animals used forresearch purposes to communicate ‘goodpractice’. ATW especially aims to promoteand develop the 3Rs particularly in respectof Reﬁnement. More importantly, ATWpromotes the generally accepted 4th R,Responsibility. The responsibility that allAnimal Technologists have in ensuringdissemination of ‘good practice’ to everyinstitution using animals in research. ATW enjoys a unique position as the scientiﬁcpublication for the leading organisations forthe welfare of animals used in research.NO fees are charged to authors for publishing in ATW. Instructions to authors appear on the website.Editor: Jasmine Barley MSc FIAT RAnTech Email: atweditor@iat.org.uk

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GENERAL INFORMATIONMarjorie (Sandiford) Whittingham was a late arrival on Council in 1966 serving 11 years until she retired from work in the late 1970s. For the 7 years prior to her retirement, she was Secretary to the Institute and was also a Member of the Exam Board for all of those 11 years. Marjorie’s husband, Dick Whittingham and Council set up the prize fund after her untimely death in Kenya where they had retired to. The enormity of the amount of work that Marjorie completed during that period made her shorter service even more exceptional.19General InformationJournal Article – Marjorie (Sandiford) Whittingham Prize 2020Animal Technology and WelfarePaper AbstractThe aim of the project was to explore the relationship between employee participation and job satisfaction by carrying out four workshops relating to the implementation of the 3Rs and working towards a Culture of Care with clearly deﬁned shared values. The participants were members of the Biological Services Unit at King’s College London, Guy’s Campus involved in the care of animals used for medical research. The 3Rs are a set of principles that provide a framework for more ethical and humane animal research. They stand for Replacement, Reduction and Reﬁnement. Where possible, the use of animals should be replaced by another method when they can provide the same quality of research e.g. computer models. If it is not possible to replace animals, then all efforts should be made to reduce the number of animals used. Reﬁnement methods should be utilised to reduce the amount of pain, suffering or lasting harm experienced by the animals. This can be obtained for example, by improving housing, procedure methods and pain relief. Institutions that work with research animals are highly regulated by legislation and guidelines. However, such institutions should endeavour to go beyond the legal obligations and treat the animals with compassion and empathy by establishing a Culture of Care. Improved animal welfare has continually been shown to increase the reproducibility of research and promote good science. This culture should be extended to the people that work with the animals where “Institutional culture inﬂuences the productivity and performance of many enterprises”. Low morale and motivation in staff can be linked to low job satisfaction, increased sickness and bad public perception of an organisation. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) 2018 report, absences due to stress-related illness and mental health issues including anxiety and depression had increased in nearly 40% and 55% of organisations respectively.Cheryl YaldenCheryl graduated from the University of Leeds in 2008 with a degree in Biology (Animal Science). After graduating, she returned home to South London and started a career in Animal Technology as a trainee Animal Technician at King’s College London and now holds an Advanced Animal Technologist position. She is actively involved in the training of the new apprentices and with the implementation of the new database. Cheryl is continuing her career path and has one more module to complete to obtain her IAT level 6. Her interests in Culture of Care and staff morale were ignited during studying these modules and became the topic of her level 6 project. Cheryl receives a commemorative plaque and monetary gift of £250.00.The IAT Editorial Board, chaired by Jas Barley, has selected Cheryl Yalden BSc MIAT, King’s College Londonas the 2020 winner of the Animal Technology and Welfare Journal Prize for her paper ‘The relationship between employee participation and job satisfaction’published in the December 2020 issue Vol. 19.3 pp169-84 www.atwjournal.com

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General Information21GENERAL INFORMATIONBEST POSTER PRIZE 2021 An excellent variety of posters are being displayed virtually for you to browse through during the whole of Congress.The Best Poster is selected by a panel, nominated by the Congress Committee, who judges each poster according to criteria for best content, clarity and quality of science.The criteria covers: improvement in animal welfare, innovation, ease of replication of work, presentation and layout.The 2021 winner, who will receive a cash award of £250.00, will be announced at the Prize Giving on Thursday 25th March at 15.00 hrs.Our thanks go to long-term generous sponsors of this award, LBS Biotechnology for their support.BEST POSTER WINNERCongress 2019BEST POSTER WINNERCongress 2018Best Poster WinnerCongress 2017Best Poster WinnerCongress 2016BEST POSTER WINNERCongress 2021 Tel: +44 (0)1293 827940 Email: sales@lbs-biotech.comContact LBS - your trusted supplier, serving the needs of the Biotechnology Industry www.lbs-biotech.comEnrichment ProductsDesigned to enhance your researchOur extensive product range gives your research animals an active, stimulating and comfortable environment. • DesResTM Rodent Houses• Fun Tunnels• Toys, Balls and Chews• Treats & Rewards • Bedding & Nesting • Foraging - just some of our quality assured products, suitable for use in biotechnology conditions.

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BioFlex® Isolators > High Quality> Expert Knowledge> Experience> Innovation> Latest Technology> Reliability> Design Flexibility> Specialise in Bespoke Designs> Flexible Film, Semi-Rigid or Fully-Rigid Designs> Large Animal Isolator DesignsBell Isolation Systems lead the way in the design and manufacture of high quality flexible film and rigid isolators using the latest materials and technology, coupled with over forty years of innovation developing standard, customised and bespoke products.Contact for further information:Bell Isolation Systems LtdUnit 12a, Oakbank Park WayLivingston EH53 0THScotland, UKTelephone: +44 (0) 1506 442916Fax: +44 (0) 1506 440780Email: info@bell-isolation-systems.comWebsite: www.bell-isolation-systems.comInnovative solutions for laboratory animal containment

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Scientiﬁc Programme25PAPER PRESENTATIONSFrom awkwardness to openness: 15 years on the road to better understanding of animal researchIn January 2006 the Hall family closed their Darley Oaks Guinea pig farm in Staffordshire following a sustained hate campaign which included threats of violence, thefts of animals and a grave robbery. At the same time the building of a new animal facility in Oxford was in jeopardy thanks to targeting by animal rights extremists.Fifteen years on, animal research is credited in mainstream media with helping to develop the vaccines that are allowing us to see a light at the end of the COVID tunnel. Establishments share detailed information about their animal use publicly on their websites and compete for Openness Awards. 92% of the public understands that animals are used to try to develop new treatments for speciﬁc diseases and 79% believe that they should be used for this purpose. New facilities are built and opened with minimal, if any, attention from animal rights groups. How did the UK bioscience sector succeed in creating such a supportive operating environment for animal research? This presentation will look back at what our community has achieved and what we need to persevere with in order to maintain public understanding and acceptance.Tuesday 9th March15.00 – 16.00 hrsWendy JarrettChief ExecutiveUnderstanding Animal ResearchWendy studied Classics at University but has focussed on science and health communication for most of the past 30 years. Her work has included awareness programmes on the risk factors for heart disease, male cancers and a campaign to persuade the UK food industry to reduce the amount of salt added to products. She is a trustee of the Blood Pressure Research Trust.In 2004 Wendy joined the Coalition for Medical Progress (CMP), launching the People’s Petition in support of animal research; creating an image and video library of research animals and encouraging institutions to allow access to news cameras. She led on the merger of CMP with the Research Defence Society to create Understanding Animal Research. In late 2009 Wendy moved to the UK’s National Institute for Heath and Clinical Excellence to introduce a more open approach to media relations, returning to UAR as Chief Executive in November 2012. She led the development of the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK, as well as helping to set up the European Animal Research Association (EARA). Wendy is a Vice President of the Institute for Animal Technology. She also sits on the UK’s Animals in Science Committee and the Board of EARA.Session sponsored byKEYNOTE SPEAKER

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Scientiﬁc Programme26PAPER PRESENTATIONSSneaky scorpions: husbandry of venomous armoured animalsScorpions are relative newcomers to the laboratory environment and their unique biology brings some fascinating challenges and observations. Venomtech have been caring for scorpions in a laboratory environment for over 10 years and several of our scorpions have been with us from the beginning and moved labs four times with us. Since the media has grabbed the idea the scorpion venom is one of the most valuable liquids around there is a real challenge to make sure these animals are well looked after and their natural populations are protected.Wednesday 10th March14.00 – 14.30 hrsSteve TrimFounder, Chief Scientiﬁc Ofﬁcer Venomtech LtdSteve founded Venomtech Ltd in March 2010 after a ten-year career as a molecular biologist at Pﬁzer. Approximately eight of those years were studying the biology of pain and neuroscience and this is where he gained an interest in toxins from venoms as these have superior potency and selectivity for ion channels compared with many small molecule drugs. Setting up a laboratory housing nearly 140 species of venomous invertebrates, it was critical to understand more about their welfare needs and potential veterinary care. The team also set up and work with a separate facility that has approximately 60 species of venomous snake. In order to do this we developed safe methods for working with venomous animals and even a patent for a safe method of feeding venomous snakes. Venomtech won the 2012 Andrew Blake Tribute Award, from the Institute for Animal Technology, for the most signiﬁcant impact on animal welfare with our paper demonstrating tarantulas (Theraphosids) respond to environmental enrichment. Since 2014, Steve has co-led the Hazardous Invertebrate sub group of the BIAZA terrestrial invertebrate working group. He was invited to join the Veterinary Invertebrate Society in 2013 which he has chaired since early 2019. Thus in addition to the collection of venom and the study of its components, Steve also researched the biology and physiology of their venomous invertebrates to improve the veterinary care potential for these animals and to maintain a healthy venom producing population.

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Scientiﬁc Programme27PAPER PRESENTATIONSThe naked mole rat: blind and naked … but oh so cool!Naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) are subterranean mammals that live in large social colonies headed by a queen who is the sole breeding female, which makes them one of very few eusocial mammals. In recent years, there has been much interest in the unusual physiology of the naked mole-rat and how this could beneﬁt biomedical research. For example, naked mole-rats live healthily for over 30 years, therefore can this provide insight into how to maintain health into old age? Moreover, naked mole-rats appear highly resistant to cancer, have unusual pain behaviours and can withstand low oxygen levels for prolonged periods of time.Thursday 11th March14.00 – 14.30 hrsEwan St. John Smith Reader in NociceptionDepartment of Pharmacology,University of CambridgeFollowing an undergraduate degree in Pharmacology at the University of Bath and PhD in Neuropharmacology at the University of Cambridge, Ewan conducted postdoctoral work at the Max-Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine in Berlin and the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine at New York University School of Medicine.In 2013, he took up a University Lectureship in Pharmacology, where his research group focusses on understanding the molecular basis of pain, especially pain associated with arthritis and disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. A second research focus is on the unusual physiology of the naked mole-rat, i.e. its cancer resistance, longevity and unusual pain sensitivity. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2017 and Reader in 2019.Ewan is also a Fellow of Corpus Christi College.Session sponsored by

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Scientiﬁc Programme28Saffron FosterAnimal Technician Brunel UniversitySaffron has been in the industry for almost three years and started her career at The Francis Crick Institute. She is a Named Animal Care and Welfare Ofﬁcer (NACWO) and responsible for the day-to-day animal management of mice, Zebraﬁsh and snails. She completed her level 2 IAT qualiﬁcation and is currently working for level 3. When not at work you can ﬁnd Saffron drawing or making various resin crafts. Thanks to her love for being creative, she recently won the IAT London branch LOGO competition.PAPER PRESENTATIONSSnail husbandry: a technician’s perspectiveThis talk will provide a view on the use of snails (Lymnaea Stagnalis and Biomphalaria glabrata) in research at Brunel University. I will discuss why they are useful research models and brieﬂy go into the work carried out on them at our establishment. I will also discuss the fact that they are not protected and therefore an amazing replacement model. The husbandry will be discussed along with enrichment that we provide and the obstacles we have faced due to a lack of snail understanding in the research community.Tuesday 16th March14.00 – 14.30 hrsSession sponsored by

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Scientiﬁc Programme29PAPER PRESENTATIONSDay to day care of opossums and their beneﬁts to researchThis presentation covers the day-to-day duties that are involved in looking after opossums as well as some background on their natural habitat and what an opossum actually is. The topics covered will include housing, handling, health, diet, breeding and the beneﬁts of using opossums in research.Tuesday 16th March14.30 – 15.00 hrsClaire Lathlean Research ScientistThe Francis Crick InstituteClaire has been in her current position for the last 9 years and has been in the industry for 19 years. She started her career working with mice for ICRF at Clare Hall, South Mimms and went through multiple mergers with the company. She works within a multi-species experimental unit and directly supervises a team of research ofﬁcers, training and mentoring them. Claire is also responsible for certain areas within the unit and one of these areas is the opossums. The multi-species include mice, rats, ferrets and opossums. The opossums are a favourite of hers. She regularly takes part in procedural work and trains others in these techniques. She is also trained in different containment levels. Animal welfare is a particularly important part of her role. Claire achieved Registered Animal Technician (RAnTech) status and has attended the NACWO training course. She also gained her level 4 IAT qualiﬁcation. Claire enjoys working with the more unusual animals and passing on her knowledge about these species.

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Scientiﬁc Programme30PAPER PRESENTATIONSDay to day care of the use of enrichment within a containment facilityWhen keeping animals in captivity, no matter what type of establishment they are being housed in, whether it be a zoo, farm park or laboratory, the welfare of the animals takes the highest priority. Besides food and water, it is also essential that enrichment is provided, keeping all species of animals mentally and physically stimulated. Within a laboratory setting, animals do not have the luxury of open space, which they perhaps would have in other establishments. This is when enrichment makes all the difference. Focussing on pigs, cattle, poultry, rabbits and ferrets, Natasha will be discussing the 5 main branches of enrichment, and how they are implemented within a containment facility. Types of enrichment will be discussed as well as the positive and negative impacts they can have on the animals, including the considerations that need to be made and examples of enrichment used at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).Wednesday 17th March14.00 – 14.30 hrsNatasha CartmellExecutive Ofﬁcer Animal TechnicianAnimal and Plant Health AgencyAnimals have always been Natasha’s passion. Her ﬁrst paid animal job was at the age of 14 as a kennel and cattery assistant. After ﬁnishing school, she studied animal care, followed by animal management, ﬁnally graduating with an Honours degree in Animal Behaviour and Welfare. Throughout her degree, Natasha was given the opportunity to work as a weekend Animal Technician at Merrist Wood College in Guildford, Surrery. Her role was to maintain the husbandry, care and welfare, of a variety of species including livestock, small mammals, exotics and birds. On completing her degree, Natasha took this position on full time and became more involved with lambing, the presentations’ teams, a member of the sheep showing group and was part of the team for the rebuild of their new animal facility. As she progressed, she became a tutor in animal husbandry, care and welfare. After working at the college for 8 years, she fulﬁlled her desire to work in a zoo and became a zookeeper at Chessington Zoo working with African hoof stock, small mammals and birds. From there she moved to ZSL Whipsnade, working on their farm. Natasha then decided to gain experience working with animals in science, which brings her to her current role as an EO Animal Technician and Named Animal Care and Welfare Ofﬁcer (NACWO) at APHA where she works with livestock, small mammals and birds in high containment facilities.Session sponsored by

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Scientiﬁc Programme31PAPER PRESENTATIONSA day in the life of a high containment technician working with poultryThis presentation provides a look into the daily life of an Animal Technician working inside a high containment animal facility during an intensive study. It focusses on an example of a study investigating highly pathogenic avian inﬂuenza virus in domestic poultry and pheasants and discusses all aspects from ensuring the high containment suite is safe to enter before any staff can begin work, to strict biosecurity, animal husbandry and procedures during the day, concluding with the ﬁnal facility checks that need to be covered. Whilst the day-to-day work within a high containment animal facility can be demanding, it is essential to understand the importance and the scientiﬁc need of the work undertaken, and all the mechanisms in place to ensure the integrity of the work.Wednesday 17th March14.30 – 15.00 hrsElena MatherAnimal TechnicianAnimal and Plant Health AgencyElena comes from Jersey in the Channels Islands and moved to the UK when she was 18. She has always loved animals and grew up with all sorts of creatures from birds to sheep. She graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2019 with a Masters degree in wild animal biology, having made a total career change from social sciences. She worked at a wildlife park as an educator, delivering talks on all things wildlife and then made a career move to APHA where she has worked as an Animal Technologist for the past 18 months. Elena mainly works with mice, rabbits, poultry, ferrets and pigs.Session sponsored by

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Scientiﬁc Programme32PAPER PRESENTATIONSBovine husbandry, welfare challenges in SAPO ADCP containmentPathogens that come under the Speciﬁed Animal Pathogens Order (SAPO 3) and acoustic Doppler current proﬁler (ADCP 3) categories are interesting. However, they come with their own challenges, when studied in their natural host. Adding the challenges of using large livestock, such as cattle, as the subject of the study, leads to its own threats towards husbandry, welfare and the safety of technicians. Through this presentation, we will, touch upon what SAPO 3 ADCP 3 mean, discuss why cattle are used in high containment studies and their husbandry and welfare needs as well as the challenges Animal Technicians face when meeting these, for example, manual working in a bio hazardous environment, reduced enrichment options and running a SAPO 3 ADCP 3 facility whilst meeting the needs of the cattle.Thursday 18th March14.00 – 14.30 hrsEilisha CarltonAnimal TechnologistAnimal Plant Health AgencyEilisha has a Bachelor of Science degree in Veterinary Bioscience and joined APHA in December 2020 as an Animal Technician. Although ‘new’ in this industry, she is very enthusiastic about it and has a passion for animal welfare and legislation. Outside of work, Eilisha is devoted to her two dogs.Session sponsored by

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Scientiﬁc Programme33PAPER PRESENTATIONSUsing home cage monitoring during a time mating procedure to determine the impact of swapping a female versus adding a female to an established pairThe use of sterile male mice to induce pseudopregnancy in female mice assigned for the implantation of embryos is a vital component in the production of Genetically Altered Animals (GAA). To achieve this, we use Protamine1 (Prm1) transgenic male Hemizygous mice which are genetically sterile due to this mutation. These males are often kept for up to nine months and are housed with a companion female. During the timed mating period the companion is swapped for a new female. We hypothesised that the addition of a new female to an established pair would cause less disturbance for the male mouse, therefore activity would return to pre-change levels in a shorter time frame compared to males that have their females substituted for a new female. We investigated what the disruption to the cage activity was like if - i) a new female was added to the home cage compared to a group of control cages of trios, and ii) using a normalisation of the data, we can estimate the difference in activity between the trio and a group where the companion female was swapped. We used an established home-cage monitoring (HCM) system to measure cage activity.We found that there was widespread activity across the groups, however the activity of the group where the female was added to the established pair was returned to pre-addition levels sooner than the pairs where the female was swapped.This presentation will discuss the results and the type of analysis we performed on the data. Due to the complexity in comparing pairs of mice with trios in HCM, further studies need to be designed to give us a clearer understanding and be conﬁdent that adding a female to an established pair could reduce the impact of this intervention. All animal studies were ethically reviewed and carried out in accordance with the Animals (Scientiﬁc Procedures) Act 1986 and the GSK Policy on the Care, Welfare and Treatment of Animals.Thursday 18th March14.30 – 15.00 hrsJoanna MooreInvestigator and NIOGlaxoSmithKlineJoanna has worked with laboratory animals for over 25 years in a range of roles across different sectors. She has always had a strong focus on welfare and enrichment and in 2018 she was awarded a PhD in Animal Sciences. More recently, she has completed an assessment of the mouse DVC to demonstrate the capabilities of this system in terms of what it can teach us to understand the needs of the mouse.Session sponsored by

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Scientiﬁc Programme34PAPER PRESENTATIONSAndrew Blake Tribute Award Winner 2020Protective cranial implant caps for macaquesNeuroscience studies with macaque monkeys may require cranial implants to stabilize the head or gain access to the brain for scientiﬁc purposes. Wound management that promotes healing after the cranial implant surgery in non-human primates can be difﬁcult as it is not necessarily possible to cover the wound margins. Here, we developed an easily modiﬁable head cap that protects the sutured skin margins after cranial implant surgery and contributes to wound healing. The protective head cap was developed in response to monkeys picking at sutured skin margins around an implant, complicating healing. The user-friendly protective cap, made from Klarity- R™ Sheet is afﬁxed to the implant post-surgically. Once secured and while the monkey is still anaesthetised, the plastic sheeting is moulded around the implant. The protective head cap restricts the monkey’s ﬁnger access to its’ wound margins while allowing air to circulate to promote wound healing. Across two UK primate facilities (Oxford and Newcastle), the protective head cap promoted wound healing. In monkeys that did not wear the head cap, re-suturing was necessary in ~30% of cases. In contrast, none of the monkeys that wore the head cap required re-suturing. The monkeys wearing the head cap also had reduced numbers of days of prescribed antibiotics and analgesia. This bespoken, easily adaptable, protective head cap supports postoperative wound healing, and enhances the welfare of monkeys involved in neuroscience research.Reference:Perry BAL, Mason S, Nacef J, Waddle A, Hynes B, Bergmann C, Schmid MC, Petkov CI, Thiele A, Mitchell AS. 2020. Protective cranial implant caps for macaques. J Neurosci Methods, 108992. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2020.108992.Further details on page 12-13.(Original presentation postponed complying with lockdown restrictions in March 2020.)Tuesday 23rd March14.00 – 14.30 hrsANDREW BLAKETRIBUTE AWARDThe Andrew Blake Tribute Award is generously sponsored by the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries

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Scientiﬁc Programme35PAPER PRESENTATIONSAndrew Blake Tribute Award Winner 2021Reﬁnements in head plate mouse nesting: using composite nests to enhance welfare Studies indicate that providing lab mice with choices which mimic the natural environment allows them to build the best quality nests and mice have been shown to go to considerable effort to gather and combine multiple nesting materials to construct a nest with. These types of nests are referred to as composite nests and are typically higher quality nests than those built of only one material. Many animal facilities commonly provide only one nesting material due to ease, standardisation and costs. In many cases mice are observed to shred other enrichment items within the cage such as cardboard tunnels and houses and incorporate them into the nest, indicating a preference for additional or alternative materials. Head plate mice however, face restrictions on enrichment items such as nesting material, as long and ﬁbrous products are liable to become tangled around the device and cause entrapment or injury. It has been demonstrated that single short ﬁbre materials are safe for head plate mice and can be used to construct high quality nests, however it is not known whether a combination of only short ﬁbre materials can be used to construct a higher quality composite nest than one single short ﬁbre material. This study investigates whether composite nests have the potential to be a beneﬁcial reﬁnement in head plate mouse husbandry with the aim of improving welfare and in turn increasing the validity of the scientiﬁc output.Further details on page 16-17.Tuesday 23rd March14.30 – 15.00 hrsSession sponsored byANDREW BLAKETRIBUTE AWARDThe Andrew Blake Tribute Award is generously sponsored by the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries

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Scientiﬁc Programme36PAPER PRESENTATIONSZebraﬁsh – everyone’s poor relationOver the last twenty years, Zebraﬁsh (danio rerio) have seen a phenomenal rise as a model for research, with their uses becoming many and varied across a wide range of scientiﬁc disciplines. They are not, however wet mice, so does their small size, anatomical differences and living environment make ﬁsh very difﬁcult for humans to recognise and empathise with? Home Ofﬁce Guidance encourages the use of animals with the lowest capacity to experience pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm. Do we really consider Zebraﬁsh to be less sentient, less able to feel pain, less able to feel or inspire emotion? Observation suggests the value put upon a Zebraﬁsh is considerably less than that put on a mouse.Are we allowing these attitudes to contribute to the lack of husbandry standardisation for Zebraﬁsh? Do we even all agree what standardisation actually means in the context of Zebraﬁsh? The husbandry and welfare concerns of this species currently seem to be addressed and driven by disparate groups and forces. In the interests of Zebraﬁsh as a research model and a sentient species, perhaps now is the time to start joining the dots of all this knowledge, information and advice together and ask when will this Cinderella species go to the ball and what will her fairy godmother look like?Wednesday 24th March14.00 – 14.30 hrsCarole WilsonHead of Fish FacilityUniversity College LondonCarole’s 30 year career as an Animal Technologist began as a junior technician at the NIMR. She now sits on the IAT Council and has been the IAT Bulletin editor for the past 3 years. Carole has spent the past 20 years as Head of the UCL ﬁsh facility, the largest Zebraﬁsh facility in the UK and independent of UCL biological services platform. During this time, she has overseen the expansion of the facility to four times its original size and increased its technical complexity to include accredited training programmes, procedural programmes including a large cryo-programme and is currently working on an improved and much expanded health monitoring and screening programme. Carole has published on Zebraﬁsh welfare and husbandry issues in a variety of publications including Zebraﬁsh, ILAR Journal and AWT, as well as presenting at a broad range of conferences to a wide variety of stakeholders, including research scientists, Home Ofﬁce representatives, veterinarians and Animal Technologists. She has also won several prizes for her work improving Zebraﬁsh welfare including the LASA Conference poster prize in 2014 for work on Zebraﬁsh health monitoring and the Andrew Blake Tribute Award in 2012 for the paper “Body condition scoring for Zebraﬁsh”.Session sponsored by

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Copies can be ordered via the IAT website www.iat.org.uk/booksThe last edition of this book, titled An Introduction to Animal Technology was published in 2001. This edition has been revised and enlarged to take account of developments in the subject over the last 16 years. It is well illustrated with most of the illustrations being in colour.The Animals (Scientiﬁc Procedures) Act 1986, as Amended 2012 has been covered in detail as this impinges on all aspects on the care and use of animals used in science. Other topics covered include animal health, housing and environment, routine care, feeding and watering, breeding, ethics and welfare.The text has been speciﬁcally prepared for staff beginning their careers in Animal Technology and closely follows the syllabus for the IAT level 2 Diploma in Laboratory Animal Science and Technology. It is also hoped it will be of interest to any other person starting to work in establishments licenced under the Animals (Scientiﬁc Procedures) Act 1986, as Amended.l Paperback: 232 pagesl Publisher: Institute of Animal Technology (November 2017)l Language: Englishl ISBN-13: 978-1-9999168-0-0l Cost: £20.00 (includes free p&p within the UK – overseas postage will be charged)Introduction toLaboratory Animal Science, Technology and Welfare

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Scientiﬁc Programme38PAPER PRESENTATIONSChilled storage of Zebraﬁsh embryos, development and evolution of a promising toolZebraﬁsh embryo is a valid model already widely used thanks to its particular features (ease of maintenance, small size, high fecundity, rapid development, optical transparency of the embryo). Furthermore, according to the 3Rs principle (Replacement, Reduction and Reﬁnement), it is considered as a replacement method to animal experimentation. Its widespread use in scientiﬁc research requires the development of techniques aimed at preserving embryos. In fact, the availability of stored embryos would have an important impact not only on the storage of genetically modiﬁed lines, but also on trade. Currently, there is not a single and functional protocol aimed at preserving the structure, functionality and morphology of the Zebraﬁsh embryo. Therefore, the identiﬁcation of a practical procedure that can be used in different laboratories could broaden new horizons in a collaborative context between scientiﬁc teams as well as in reaching an essential step for understanding embryo preservation. The aim of the present investigation is to use Zebraﬁsh embryos as an alternative model to explore the development of a storage protocol and to identify the limiting factors associated with ﬁsh embryo cryopreservation. Several variables can play a key role in the identiﬁcation of a cooling protocol for Zebraﬁsh embryos: the stage of embryo’s development is extremely important for its correct conservation. In addition, further to identifying the exact time window, the choice of the more suitable cryoprotective agent (CPA) should not be underestimated. To this, is added both the search for the appropriate exposure time and the analysis of what could be the proper exposure temperature at which the embryos would be incubated without undergoing alterations. Furthermore, it is possible to set the same temperature for the whole cooling period, otherwise it is possible to set a (more or less) rapid decrease of the thermal condition. In this study embryos were obtained from a breeding stock of wild-type Zebraﬁsh with well-documented fertilisation rate (≥70 %). As preliminary experiments, the viability of Zebraﬁsh embryos was investigated in Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and Methanol (MeOH), both at 1M concentration, while Embryo Medium (EM) was chosen as negative control. Viable fertilised eggs correctly developed were divided into two experimental groups: 1) embryos with chorion, 2) embryos treated with Pronase® (50 mg/mL) in order to remove this protective barrier. Then, the two groups were exposed to CPAs as MeOH and DMSO and to the negative control (EM). After 24 hours at 4°C, embryos were brought back to room temperature for 2 hours and subsequently transferred in Embryo Medium at the target development temperature of 28°C. A very high mortality was observed at 120 hours post fertilisation (hpf), especially for the dechorionated ones, thus it was decided to continue testing only embryos with chorion and also to reduce the concentration of both CPAs at 0.1M. The following experiment was carried out with the ﬁnal concentration of cryoprotectants halved to 0.05M and 0.1M of sucrose was added to all three solutions, in order to verify its conservative function on the whole organism. This preliminary step was followed by additional experiments: embryos at 24hpf and 48hpf were exposed for each protocol devised, but further development stages will be investigated in order to ﬁnd the most applicable storage protocol. In conclusion, the results obtained so far are promising and open up different possibilities in this under investigated area: additional targeted experiments are needed for the optimization of a complete and feasible cooling protocol of Zebraﬁsh embryos.Wednesday 24th March14.30 – 15.00 hrs

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Scientiﬁc Programme39PAPER PRESENTATIONSMaria Sampieri Biologist Research FellowIZSLERMaria is a Research Fellow at the National Reference Center for Alternative Methods, Welfare and Care of Laboratory Animals at Istituto Zooproﬁlattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell’Emilia Romagna (IZSLER) in Brescia, Italy. In April 2017, a three year course in Life Sciences, Maria graduated in Neurobiology at the University of Pavia, Bologna. Her chosen studies have introduced her to a wide variety of subjects in the ﬁeld of alternative methods, as she was always curious about everything regarding the development and the application of alternative approaches. Currently, Maria is working on projects including the detection of neurotoxicity endpoints in Zebraﬁsh embryos, the evaluation of the toxic effects of different potential thyroid disruptors on Danio rerio larvae and ﬁnally she is working on a project which purpose is to create an accurate and detailed protocol for the cooling storage of Zebraﬁsh embryos.

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Scientiﬁc Programme40PAPER PRESENTATIONSPreparing, caring, sharing and ﬂagging: tools for animal care staffManaging accredited laboratory animal facilities for many years has taught me the crucial role played by animal care staff in deﬁning the quality of the research being carried out there. For the last 13 years I have been Secretary of Norecopa, whose mission is to disseminate resources for implementing the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Reﬁnement of animal research). Reﬁnement has also an important human component: maintaining the physical and mental wellbeing of all those who are affected, directly or indirectly, by the activities involving research animals - both in the ﬁeld and in the laboratory.Norecopa is involved in a number of strategies to improve the quality of the science, and the quality of life of those involved in research:The PREPARE guidelines (https://norecopa.no/PREPARE) were written to encourage scientists - with good help from animal care staff - to plan more valid, reproducible and translatable experiments which fully implement the 3Rs. PREPARE includes a 2-page checklist, and a website with more information about all the topics on the checklist. PREPARE helps scientists realise the importance of close collaboration with animal care staff from day 1 of planning.Norecopa also hosts the website of the International Culture of Care Network (https://norecopa.no/CoC). This is a group of professionals, of all categories, who share ways in which we can improve the support given to personnel in research facilities: recognising efforts made to improve animal welfare, avoiding compassion fatigue and developing a state of trust so that any member of the group has the conﬁdence to raise an issue, or challenge a proposed route of action without fear of reprisals.In 2020, Norecopa launched a Reﬁnement Wiki (https://wiki.norecopa.no), with the aim of offering all animal care staff a portal where they can publish their experiences in trying to reﬁne animal experiments. The Wiki aims to be a halfway house between scientiﬁc publications (which are time-consuming and which generally require detailed investigations) and conversations on discussion forums (where many worthwhile ideas get mentioned, only to be forgotten in time by most). Staff can either post ideas themselves, or request Norecopa to publish them on their behalf.Norecopa also encourages scientists to ﬂag any 3R-advances which they have made within the title and/or abstract of their papers. These are often the only sections of a paper which get indexed by bibliographic databases, so it is crucial that they reﬂect these advances. The commonly used reporting guidelines do not, unfortunately, make this important point.PREPARE - CARE - SHARE - FLAG!Thursday 25th March14.00 – 14.30 hrsSession sponsored by

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Scientiﬁc Programme41Adrian Smith Secretary to NorecopaNorwayAdrian is a British veterinarian who graduated from Cambridge University in 1979. After a year in mixed practice in the UK he emigrated to Norway where he has lived since. For much of this time he was employed by the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, where he defended his doctoral thesis on the reproductive physiology of seasonal breeders. He held the Chair in Laboratory Animal Science from 1988 and until he left the School in 2011. He was heavily involved in the work of introducing mandatory training in Laboratory Animal Science in Norway, and has arranged over 50 courses for all personnel categories. During this period he was also a member of the National Animal Research Authority which oversaw all animal research in Norway and served on the committee which created the curriculum for the Veterinary Nurse programme in Norway. He has been the Secretary of Norway’s consensus-platform for the 3Rs, Norecopa (https://norecopa.no) since it was established in 2007. He has had a special interest in 3R resources for many years and has co-authored several databases in this area which are now embedded in the Norecopa website. He is a Board Member of the Danish 3R centre and a member of the National Committee for the protection of animals used for scientiﬁc purposes in Denmark. He is lead author of the PREPARE guidelines for planning animal experiments.PAPER PRESENTATIONS

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Scientiﬁc Programme43PAPER PRESENTATIONSASRU update from the Home OfﬁceGovernance is central to the delivery of protection to animals in compliance with the Animals (Scientiﬁc Procedures) Act. The Home Ofﬁce will focus on how governance is at the heart of delivery of the Act by ASRU itself, establishments and individuals. Join the Head of ASRU for a presentation on how your role is integral to supporting compliance.Thursday 25th March14.30 – 15.00 hrsWill ReynoldsHead of the Animals in Science Regulation UnitHome OfﬁceWill Reynolds, Animals in Science Regulation Unit. Will began his career as a marine biologist, gaining 10 years’ experience in marine research for UK Government and internationally, primarily in biological effects techniques. He was later an adviser to the UK Department for Environment chief scientist on animal health and welfare, before moving to the Home Ofﬁce. Will has worked in policy advice as secretary to the UK Advisory Council on the misuse of drugs and as head of UK Advisory Bodies. This role included oversight of the advisory body for the use of animals in science. Will subsequently took up a role as head of policy in the Animals in Science Regulation Unit, and is now the head of the UK regulator. TRAIN LEARN DEVELOP CPD courses with CPD points from LASA and the IAT including: Nominated Assessors course Train the Trainer course Contact us for more details: ubstraining@admin.cam.ac.uk More courses coming soon! Accredited by the IAT: IAT Levels 2 and 3 NACWO Course Accredited by University Accreditation Group: PIL Courses PPL Course Interactive online learning

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44 Scientiﬁc ProgrammeKEVIN DOLAN MEMORIAL LECTUREGiant FootstepsThe Asian elephant is facing a very uncertain future in its natural habitat – rapidly expanding human populations, poaching and habitat fragmentation are putting remaining numbers of Asian elephants under extreme pressure. This once wide-ranging species is now increasingly restricted to pockets of habitat that can only sustain potentially unviable populations of animals. This presentation will discuss the role that the modern Zoo can play in the conservation of the world’s largest land mammal.It will also describe key aspects of elephant wellness, husbandry, enrichment and facility design that uses modern technology to enhance species speciﬁc behaviour, with particular reference to the development of Dublin Zoo’s ground breaking elephant programme.Kevin Dolan 1926 - 2011When Kevin Dolan died in 2011 at the age of 85, IAT Council wished to honour his memory in gratitude for the contribution he had made to Animal Technologists and the industry in general and therefore ﬁttingly, the Special Guest Lecture given annually at Congress was renamed the Kevin Dolan Memorial Lecture.Kevin’s contributions to the IAT included services on Council and for several years he was Editor of the IAT Journal, only standing down on his retirement. He received his Fellowship in 1977 at the same time as attaining a Diploma in Law. He was also made a Vice President of the IAT and latterly an Honorary Member.

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Scientiﬁc Programme 45KEVIN DOLAN MEMORIAL LECTUREGerry CreightonGerry has worked at Dublin Zoo since 1983 as a trainee keeper before becoming a full time zoo keeper in 1986. He subsequently worked as Team Leader for nearly ten years responsible for large apes, carnivores and elephants, before becoming Zoo Operations Manager in 2009, responsible for all zoo animals and grounds.He holds an advisory role acting as elephant consultant for many international zoos. His career has spanned several decades of exciting development, during which time, Dublin Zoo has transformed from its Victorian beginnings in 1831 into a modern, vital and progressive European centre for conversation, education and animal husbandry. Gerry has spent over 30 years working with elephants, initially under free contact management before moving progressively to protective contact in 2006. After 36 years, Gerry took the decision to leave Dublin Zoo at the beginning of this year, and shares his vast expertise as an Elephant Care Consultant with zoos across the world.He also authored many distinguished books and articles on the subject of law and ethics using animals in science but it was as a teacher that Kevin had most impact. He taught on the Postgraduate Diploma/MSc course, the Medical Technology courses at City of Westminster and on Personal Licence Modular training courses. To paraphrase one of his students ‘Kevin was a great teacher because he was passionate about the subject he was dealing with and the people he was teaching to’.Despite joining the world of animal technology somewhat later in life after many years in the ecclesiastical domain, Kevin’s impact on our industry was outstanding. His was a life well lived in the service of others and in recognition is remembered at Congress.

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Scientiﬁc Programme46CPD Workshop SessionsCare-full stories? Introducing a training resource to explore the ‘culture of care’ from the perspective of different stakeholdersThis workshop will offer a short preview of a new training resource being developed by members of the Animal Research Nexus in collaboration with stakeholders in animal research.The resource uses a series of ﬁctional prompts (story scripts), which participants read out during the session. The scripts are designed to encourage those involved to see a particular scenario from multiple perspectives. Each script is accompanied by a series of discussion points which are aimed at getting participants to share their own stories, and to use these as a resource for reﬂecting on their institution’s culture of care.This workshop would be of interest to those involved in training animal research staff, as well as anyone with a broader interest in promoting continuing professional development around the ‘culture of care’.Wednesday 10th March15.00 – 16.00 hrs1 HOURCPD CREDITBeth GreenoughAssociate Professor of Human Geography,University of OxfordGail DaviesProfessor in Human Geography,University of ExeterDr Beth Greenhough’s research examines the social implications of scientiﬁc innovations in the areas of health, biomedicine and the environment. Along with Prof Davies, she is one of the lead researchers on the Animal Research Nexus project and has led the development of the Care-full Stories training resource. She has published widely on topics including the culture of care and everyday ethics in animal research. She is co-author of Bodies Across Borders (Ashgate) Health Geographies: A Critical Introduction (Wiley-Blackwell) and Bioinformation (Polity).Gail Davies is a social scientist whose work explores how we understand and manage environments and animals, and seeks to stage conversations between different kinds of knowledges. Her past research has explored natural history ﬁlmmaking, the changing spaces of scientiﬁc collaboration, and opportunities for participatory decision-making in controversial issues in science and technology. She is currently working on the interfaces between patient involvement and animal research. She is part of the Wellcome Trust funded Animal Research Nexus Programme (2017-2022). Professor Davies was appointed to the Animals in Science Committee from 2013-2019 and chaired the 2017 review of Harm–Beneﬁt Analysis in UK animal research.

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Scientiﬁc Programme47CPD Workshop SessionsManaging aggression in laboratory animal speciesAggression is a problem in many laboratory animal species. Aggressive behaviour can cause stress and painful injuries, or lead to single housing, negatively affecting animal welfare. Aggression is also undesirable from a scientiﬁc perspective, for example where it leads to animals being culled or removed from studies, or where pain and distress introduce variability into experimental results. It is therefore crucial to be able to detect aggressive behaviour early on, understand the causes, and take steps to minimise its occurrence. In this interactive workshop we will discuss the reasons why aggression may occur within the animal facility, how this can affect animal wellbeing and science, and strategies and tips for preventing and managing aggression in a range of mammalian species, from mice and rats to dogs, pigs and non-human primates.Participants will be able to share their experiences of reducing aggression and will receive practical recommendations and handouts with sources of further advice.Wednesday 10th March16.00 – 17.00 hrs1 HOURCPD CREDITMark Prescott Director of Policy and Outreach,NC3RsDimitra SchizaProgramme Manager - Animal Technology and Welfare, NC3RsDr Mark Prescott has worked at the NC3Rs since its inception in 2004. Mark provides strategic oversight of the Centre’s relationships with other research funders and the academic community, including its peer review and advice service, regional staff within UK universities, and ofﬁce-led programmes on animal welfare and experimental design. Mark trained as a zoologist and primatologist, and has authored over 50 publications in primatology, animal behaviour and animal welfare science. He serves on a number of ethics committees and scientiﬁc advisory boards at project, institution, journal and governmental levels.Dimitra manages the animal technology and welfare programme and is a member of the Policy and Outreach Group at the NC3Rs. She is involved in the NC3Rs peer review service and ofﬁce-led programmes on animal welfare. Dimitra specialises in neuroscience and has obtained a PhD from University College London. She has over 10 years of experience in animal work, having worked as a researcher in the UK and abroad, before joining the NC3Rs.Session sponsored by

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Scientiﬁc Programme48CPD Workshop SessionsImproving the welfare of mice used in the study of ageing IntroductionHuman lifespan is increasing globally whereas healthspan - the period of life free from age-related diseases - is not increasing at the same rate. One consequence of this is that we are witnessing a concerted research effort into the causes of ageing and the control of its consequences, and this effort has resulted in an increase in the number of research groups that use ageing rodents – particularly mice – in their scientiﬁc studies. As ageing is universally associated with a general and progressive decline in organ systems, there are some clinical/pathological manifestations that can be considered more or less typical in a given species or strain. As mice age, many conditions develop slowly over extended periods of time and the body adapts to them. However, a moment comes when an animal shows clinical signs resulting from a decline in function that can no longer be compensated. In this workshop we will explore what these signs might be, how best to “grade” them and how best to tackle them. Another aspect we will explore is the interface between ageing and experimental aims. For example, how can we gauge the cumulative harm in mice that are being used to study the effects of age in the development of arthritis or of certain forms of cancer? Following an introduction and explanation of the background, context and aims, a breakout session into small focused groups will explore the more common clinical signs of ageing and identify husbandry and care measures and humane endpoints. Groups will also look into ways of assessing welfare and cumulative severity of mice that are aged for scientiﬁc purposes.Thursday 11th March15.00 – 16.45 hrs2 HOURSCPD CREDITLinda HoranManager BPUUniversity of StrathclydeChair & CEO IATLinda is passionate about trying to improve the lives of the animals we care for. She started her career at the University of Liverpool as a junior Animal Technician, after completing all the IAT Animal Technology exams she achieved a BSc (Hons) in Applied Biomedical Sciences. Now working at The University of Strathclyde as Manager of the Biological Procedure Unit, she has in excess of thirty-ﬁve years’ experience in biomedical research and teaching. Linda is the current Chair and CEO of the Institute of Animal Technology and an NC3Rs board member and impact panel member.

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Scientiﬁc Programme49CPD Workshop SessionsMichael Wilkinson Named Veterinary SurgeonUniversity of StrathclydeNorman FlynnHome Ofﬁce InspectorHome OfﬁceDr Michael Wilkinson is a veterinary graduate from the Autonomous University of Bellaterra (Barcelona). He also holds a PhD from the University of Glasgow after completing a programme of research at the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the Glasgow Vet School. After a short spell in general practice, he returned to the University of Glasgow to work as deputy Named Veterinary Surgeon (NVS) in the Department of Biological Services and as NVS for the University of Strathclyde. In 1994 he gained the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ Certiﬁcate in Laboratory Animal Science (CertLAS) and in 2006 he gained Diplomate status of the European College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (DiplECLAM), considered to be the highest veterinary qualiﬁcation in Europe in the specialty. Since 2010 he fulﬁls a Named Veterinary Surgeon’s role for the University of Glasgow and still continues being NVS for the University of Strathclyde.Michael regularly lectures at training courses for scientists and animal care staff and has published in various peer-reviewed journals on topics ranging from housing of Monodelphis domestica to reﬁnements in rodent models of arthritis. He has worked with many different species in the biomedical research context and has a special interest in animal welfare and reﬁnements to experimental protocols. He is also very interested in supporting veterinary colleagues in their efforts to specialise in the ﬁeld and was a co-founder of the ESLAV/ECLAM Summer School initiative. He heads the Mock Exam Committee of ECLAM, is a member of the Council of Management of Laboratory Animals Ltd (publishers of the Journal Laboratory Animals) and a member of a LAVA, LASA, ESLAV and ECLAM.Norman qualiﬁed as a vet from Glasgow University before completing a PhD in immunology at Edinburgh University. He worked as a research immunologist in Kenya, Scotland, Italy and Switzerland before joining the Home Ofﬁce in 2004. Norman has been an Inspector in the Home Ofﬁce for over 16 years and has undertaken several different roles in ASRU. His work-related interests are in immunology, vaccine development, infectious disease and cancer.Session sponsored by

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CPD Workshop SessionsMaking the frame ﬁt the picture: how should we talk about animal research?Whether it is in a private conversation or at a public meeting, how we say something is as important as what we say. If we want people to be receptive to our positive messages about animal research, we need to communicate in ways that make the most impact. In this session, UAR will share new techniques to frame your communications about animals in science that will improve how your message is heard and help you to feel safer and more conﬁdent when it comes to talking about your work in any context.Tuesday 16th March15.00 – 16.00 hrs1 HOURCPD CREDITJohn MeredithHead of Education and OutreachUnderstanding Animal ResearchBella WilliamsHead of EngagementUnderstanding Animal ResearchJohn Meredith is Head of Education and Outreach for Understanding Animal Research where he manages a national network of volunteers dedicated to talking about their work with animals, and provides training and outreach activities at laboratories, colleges and science fairs across the UK.Bella has been exploring the relationship between science, society and communication for over 20 years, working through research in both natural and social sciences to consider how ideas about science are communicated to the public and their inﬂuencers such as media and policy makers. As a facilitator Bella has developed and delivered workshops across many ﬁelds, with an emphasis on communications, medical ethics and the use of animals in research.Bella is currently Head of Engagement at Understanding Animal Research (UAR), and is responsible for initiatives around member engagement and public engagement: both helping UAR member and stakeholders with outreach and reactive initiatives on the use of animals in research, and engaging directly with the public on this issue. She leads on Openness at UAR, working with signatory institutions of the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research to help them build openness into communications strategies.Session sponsored by50 Scientiﬁc Programme

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Scientiﬁc Programme51CPD Workshop SessionsThe who, what, where, why and how of Zebraﬁsh: introduction to popular laboratory animals and the skills needed to work with themLearn more about Zebraﬁsh (Danio rerio) and why the species has become the second most popular used animal in lab animal science. This workshop will include a brief introduction to the zebraﬁsh’s life history, what training and skills Animal Technicians need to work with them, and good colony management practices.Tuesday 16th March16.00 – 17.00 hrs1 HOURCPD CREDITMollie MillingtonSenior Research ScientistThe Francis Crick InstituteMollie currently works as the Aquatics Unit Manager at The Francis Crick Institute. She received a BA in Marine Biology from Boston University and has a MSc in Zoo and Aquarium Management from Michigan State University. Mollie holds the Institute for Animal Technology level 2 diploma and is currently enrolled in Level 3 for completion in 2021. She joined the executive board of the Zebraﬁsh Husbandry Association (zhaonline.org) in 2020 as president elect and is currently serving as president.Having always enjoyed working with aquatics species, Mollie has been fortunate enough to work in both public (New England Aquarium, Alaska SeaLife Center and Mystic Aquarium) and academia aquaria (Marine Biological Laboratory, Queen Mary University of London, National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) and The Francis Crick Institute) during her career. Her experience with multiple species in these varied environments gives her a wealth of knowledge to draw upon when troubleshooting system problems, training animals, medical care, or establishing new systems. In October 2019, she won an award with her colleagues for her 3Rs work in establishing a system to use lidocaine pre- and post-ﬁn clipping that did not impact the scientists’ research. She has also co-authored several papers using Zebraﬁsh as animal models and a methodology for environmental screening Zebraﬁsh systems for pathogens.Session sponsored by

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52CPD Workshop SessionsBest practice in breeding laboratory miceThis will be an interactive workshop for experienced (1 year+) junior technicians covering the basics of mouse reproduction, inbred, outbred and GA strains. Looking at how to select the best mice for breeding, which breeding systems to use and troubleshooting examples of strains and breeders that are not producing litters.You will come away from this with some pointers on best practice to take forward and feeling more conﬁdent in your ability to manage your colonies or make suggestions on how scientists could improve theirs.Wednesday 17th March15.00 – 16.00 hrs1 HOURCPD CREDITHelen BaileyBRF Training ManagerThe Francis Crick InstituteSarah Hart-JohnsonHead of Colony ManagementThe Francis Crick InstituteHelen Bailey is also Secondary NTCO at The Francis Crick Institute with the responsibility of ensuring the training and competency of over 170 members of the Biological Research Facility. She is also the teacher/assessor for the accredited Level 2 and 3 IAT Diplomas, taught in-house. Graduating from DeMontfort University with a BSc(hons) in Animal Science, she joined the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in 2001 as a junior Animal Technician, which then evolved into the London Research Institute of Cancer Research UK. Progressing to become a Team Leader and NACWO, she also gained MIAT and RAnTech status and 16 years’ experience as an Animal Technologist before promotion in 2017 to her current role. Helen enjoys running workshops and training the new generation of Animal Technologists.Sarah previously led the Genetic manipulation team at The Crick and prior to that at the MRC’s NIMR. She started in this ﬁeld because of a love of working with embryos and spent many a year freezing and microinjecting mouse embryos, with a little work in rats, ﬁsh and frogs thrown in too. She is a section convenor for LASA’s animal science section and recently was part of an expert working group to produce the NC3Rs Breeding and colony management hub. She holds a MSc in Human Reproductive Biology and a BSc in Molecular Biology and Genetics.Scientiﬁc ProgrammeSession sponsored by

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Scientiﬁc Programme53CPD Workshop SessionsHow to help your AWERB promote a Culture of Care – including caring for youThe Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body (AWERB) has a key task of helping to promote a Culture of Care within the establishment and, as appropriate, the wider community. Your AWERB should have a clear vision of the Culture of Care it wishes to help achieve, and understand that this goes beyond caring for animals. A healthy Culture also incorporates how staff treat one other and communicate, how effectively the 3Rs are implemented, proper consideration of ethical issues and expectations for good quality science. As an Animal Technologist, there is a lot you can do to help your AWERB fulﬁl all these aspects of the task, whether or not you sit on the AWERB yourself. The Culture of Care should also demonstrably care for you and your wellbeing. This workshop will provide information and resources to help you assist the AWERB in this task and make sure you are supported, whilst enabling you to share experiences and identify action points.Thursday 18th March15.00 – 16.00 hrs1 HOURCPD CREDITPenny HawkinsHeadAnimals in Science Department, RSPCAPenny graduated in biological sciences at the University of Portsmouth in 1992 and completed her PhD in avian physiology at the University of Birmingham in 1996. She joined the RSPCA Animals in Science Department in 1996, and has been Head of Department since 2015. The Animals in Science Department works to implement the 3Rs and to ensure robust ethical review of animal use in research and testing. Penny’s main area of work relates to supporting and promoting ethics committees, including the UK Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body (AWERB). She has also been an independent member of four AWERBs, served three terms on the Animal Procedures Committee/Animals in Science Committee and is currently one of the IAT’s Vice Presidents.Session sponsored by

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Scientiﬁc Programme54CPD Workshop SessionsWhy, how and what happened next - an introduction to scientiﬁc writingScientiﬁc writing, as opposed to writing about science, does not come naturally to most people but it is a skill, some would say an art, that can be learnt. From deciding on your audience through to checking the proofs, this workshop will cover the fundamentals of an Animal Technologist’s ﬁrst ventures in scientiﬁc reporting.Tuesday 23rd March15.00 – 16.00 hrs1 HOURCPD CREDITJas BarleyEditor, Animal Technology and WelfareInstitute of Animal TechnologyJas has had a long and varied profession in the industry, working in both government and educational establishments and ﬁnishing her career at the University of Southampton. She has worked with a wide range of species and an even wider range of researchers! Now technically retired, she remains a member of IAT Council, chairing the IAT Editorial Board and has been Editor of Animal Technology and Welfare, the ofﬁcial publication of the IAT and EFAT for over 10 years. In addition to her journal activities she lectures on the level 4 and 5 courses for the IAT Higher Education programme. Jas enjoys many pursuits as well as teaching British Sign Language and her hobbies include reading, gardening, various crafts and cookery.Session sponsored by

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Scientiﬁc Programme55CPD Workshop SessionsEnvironmental enrichment for laboratory ZebraﬁshProviding laboratory animals with appropriate environmental enrichment can promote better welfare, encourage animals to express more natural behaviours, and help give animals a better overall lifetime experience, but what counts as ‘appropriate’ enrichment for Zebraﬁsh? Lots of facilities may facilitate social behaviour by group housing, and give live food to stimulate predatory behaviour, but beyond this there is great debate over how best to provide enrichment for Zebraﬁsh. This workshop will discuss different types of environmental enrichment, and will then look at the evidence for how different types of enrichment affect Zebraﬁsh behaviour, physiology and welfare. We will also discuss possible challenges to introducing more enrichment for Zebraﬁsh and ways in which these challenges might be addressed. Wednesday 24th March15.00 – 16.00 hrs1 HOURCPD CREDITChloe StevensScientiﬁc OfﬁcerRSPCAChloe works in the Animals in Science Department (formerly the Research Animals Department) at the RSPCA. She primarily works on improving the welfare of ﬁsh used in research and testing, with particular focus on environmental enrichment and the welfare of laboratory Zebraﬁsh. Before joining the RSPCA, Chloe completed an MBiolSci in Biology at the University of Shefﬁeld, where she studied the effects of social context on collective behaviour in Zebraﬁsh, and a PhD in Biology at the University of Exeter on stress, mortality and welfare in ornamental ﬁshes.Session sponsored by

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Scientiﬁc Programme56POSTER DISPLAYSKaren Ekkelund PetersenSCANBUR A/SKarlslunde, DenmarkControlling humidity – improved breeding and validity of researchRegulatory guidelines for relative humidity (RH) when housing laboratory rodents are 55 ± 10%. These were set based on quite limited data and little is known on how ﬂuctuations in RH affects laboratory rodents, or how high versus low RH, within these boundaries affects them. Studies through time have shown that RH has an impact on rodent health. How relative humidity affects laboratory rodents is summarised below. - Puberty is delayed in female mice housed under 15-30% RH, whereas ﬁrst estrus was attained earlier when housed under a RH of 75% (1).- At 35% RH compared to 75% rats consume 5% more food (2). - Low RH has shown to increase activity in mice (2).- RH impacts growth conditions for bacteria and fungus and transmission of virus (3-6).We have set up several studies to investigate the effect of tighter control of RH on health and physiology of research animals primarily by investigating the effect on breeding performance. Additionally, the potential of uncontrolled RH to affect outcomes of studies, and thus validity of research, has been part of our studies. We have speciﬁcally looked at RH controlled accurately at 55% or above. These studies have shown that a controlled RH improves breeding performance in different setups, and outcome of studies where for example water intake is an outcome or thirst a motivator. We are continuously working on additional studies to investigate effects of controlled RH on other research areas.References: (1) Drickamer, L. C. Environmental factors and age of puberty in female house mice. Developmental psychobiology 23, 63-73, doi:10.1002/dev.420230107 (1990)(2) Clough, G. Environmental effects on animals used in biomedical research. Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 57, 487-523 (1982)(3) Arundel, A. V., Sterling, E. M., Biggin, J. H. et Sterling, T. D. Indirect health effects of relative humidity in indoor environments. Environ Health Perspect 65, 351-361, doi:10.1289/ehp.8665351 (1986)(4) Alsmo, T. et Alsmo, C. Ventilation and Relative Humidity in Swedish Buildings. Journal of Environmental Protection 05, 1022-1036, doi:10.4236/jep.2014.511102 (2014)(5) Lowen, A. C., Mubareka, S., Steel, J. et Palese, P. Inﬂuenza virus transmission is dependent on relative humidity and temperature. PLoS pathogens 3, 1470-1476, doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.0030151 (2007)(6) Van Der Veen, J., Poort, Y. et Birchﬁeld, D. J. Effect of Relative Humidity on Experimental Transmission of Sendai Virus in Mice. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 140, 1437-1440, doi:10.3181/00379727-140-36691 (1972)

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Scientiﬁc ProgrammeADRIAN ZELTNEREllegaard Göttingen MinipigsDalmose, DenmarkANN TURNERAmerican Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS)Memphis, USATaking blood from Göttingen Minipigs while placed in a slingCelebrate the MouseTraditionally Minipigs are placed in dorsal recumbency to have access to the blood vessels in the neck. As this is not a position animals prefer to be in, it can evoke stress if they are restrained in this way. The sling has been proven to be a valuable restraint for various procedures with Minipigs. Most of them adapt to this form of conﬁnement easily and are quite content to hang in the sling.A standard sling was modiﬁed and several options explored to ﬁnd the most satisfying design for the purpose. Two of the designs tested offered good access to the blood vessels and, at the same time, enabled a calming effect on the Minipig during the procedure. It is particularly helpful with larger Minipigs. We found that this way of blood sampling reduces stress to a high degree and is therefore a valid reﬁnement in the sense of the 3Rs.Virtual PostersThere are 28 poster submissions being displayed throughout Congress and their abstracts appear on the following pages. Delegates can download a pdf copy of the full poster in the Poster Virtual Lobby on website by clicking the image or the poster’s title. There is also a contact button for each author.The Congress 2021 Poster Session is generously sponsored by LBS Serving Biotechnology.The Foundation of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science developed a series of outreach programmes featuring a complete PowerPoint, script and giveaways that can be distributed to provide information about how various animals are used to ﬁnd treatments and cures for disease. Breast cancer, heart disease, arthritis, transplants and Alzheimer’s disease are currently available and can be downloaded and presented to community groups, survivors’ groups and school classes. The poster will provide information about the resource and how to obtain the materials free of charge.POSTER DISPLAYS57

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Scientiﬁc Programme58POSTER DISPLAYSANN MURRAYCharles River LaboratoriesWilmington, USAADRIAN SMITHNorecopaOslo, NorwayInnovative stafﬁng strategies: a case study on insourcingPREPARE for better Science: Guidelines for Animal ResearchFor any organisation, the most valuable resource is the people that work there. This especially rings true for a laboratory animal facility, as having the right people in place with the appropriate skills and qualiﬁcations is critical for such a busy and complex environment. Finding, selecting, hiring and making sure people are happy and engaged is a full-time job on its own. So imagine how much more productive a facility manager could be if the stafﬁng aspect was partially or completely taken care of? They could focus more on other important aspects such as working with their research teams, regulatory issues, taking care of equipment and consumables and ensuring the health status and wellbeing of the animal models. Insourcing provides that opportunity. A well-planned insourcing model offers a seamless integration into a facility stafﬁng model and provides the quality of service that allows for increased productivity.The current debate about “the reproducibility crisis” tends to focus on the ‘mathematical’ aspects of experimental design and statistical analysis but weaknesses in design can arise from events throughout the animals’ lifetime. Close collaboration between scientists and animal facilities is needed, from an early stage. There are many guidelines for reporting experiments. Some have been endorsed by many journals but their impact has so far been limited. The question remains as to whether these cover all aspects governing the quality of preclinical research.The PREPARE guidelines for planning animal experiments and their website (https://norecopa.no) were developed in collaboration with scientists attending courses in Laboratory Animal Science, with the aim of generating greater appreciation of the sum of factors that inﬂuence the validity and translatability of animal studies.

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Scientiﬁc Programme59POSTER DISPLAYSANDY DICKINSONSurrey Diagnostics LtdCranleigh, Surrey UKANDY DICKINSONSurrey Diagnostics LtdCranleigh, Surrey, UKContaminating DNA can give false positives in ‘sentinel free’ health monitoring by PCR on IVC exhaust air dust samplesMaximising efﬁcacy of your health monitoring programmeFollowing the introduction of ‘sentinel free’ animal health monitoring by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on the dust collected on ﬁlters in the exhaust plenums of IVC (Individually Ventilated Cage) racks, we present a case where exhaust ﬁlters gave positives by PCR for an infectious agent which had not previously been found by microbiological culture in that colony on multiple live animal samples across the lifespan of the IVC exhaust ﬁlter.Our own experience, along with other accounts of false positives from other users, possibly due to the presence of contaminating DNA of an environmental source such as diet and bedding, led us to the hypothesis that the sentinel free PCR method could be prone to false positives due to the presence of contaminant DNA from infectious agents of mice. This could be due to the ingress of wild rodents during the storage of raw materials prior to the manufacturing process and in subsequent storage. The diet and bedding used in IVCs both contribute to the dust collected on the plenum ﬁlters which will then be sampled and tested, subsequently, any agents detected will be assumed to be present in the animals. There may also be a concentrating effect in play if ﬁlters are left in situ for prolonged periods.Using Real-Time PCR for detection of the mouse Cox1 (Cytochrome Oxidase 1) gene, we found that mouse DNA was indeed present in “clean” diet and bedding at a low level. This therefore could be a mitigating factor in the reliability of health monitoring by PCR on plenum ﬁlters alone.These false positives on plenum ﬁlters cost the research facility a considerable amount of time and money through subsequent extra testing to track down the source of the problem.There are a multitude of health monitoring techniques/methods available to us. It can be difﬁcult to know which of these to use and when to use them. This is an attempt to simplify, maximise the efﬁcacy of, and ultimately reduce the number of animals used in your health monitoring program. Whilst this is not exhaustive, and may not suit all situations, it may provide some information that allows you to optimise your current methods and give greater conﬁdence in health monitoring results.

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Scientiﬁc Programme60POSTER DISPLAYSFRANCESCA NUNNMoredun Research InstituteEdinburgh, Scotland UKSAMANTHA SHANKSCharles River Laboratories LtdTranent, Scotland, UKDevelopment of a feeding device to reduce reliance on ﬁeld trials to test novel poultry red mite controlsUsing physiotherapy to successfully manage chronic atrophic hind limb lameness in the Beagle dogPoultry red mites (PRM) are small, mobile ectoparasites that feed on the blood of hens. Testing of novel control methods uses mites in laboratory-based tests followed by ﬁeld trials. Field trials use large numbers of hens (~400) per experimental group, which are then exposed to high numbers of mites for extended periods of time. (Bartley et al., 2017).High background mortality and variable feeding rates of mites make in vitro testing challenging and requires blood from hens. An ‘on-hen’ in vivo mite feeding device for mites was developed and optimised for all blood feeding life stages of PRM. A mite conditioning study to maximise feeding rates and evaluate baseline mortality was then performed (Nunn et al., 2019).Transient lameness in Beagle dogs is a familiar case in the research environment and can be easily treated with short-term rest and medication. However, chronic lameness resulting from malformation or injury, is much rarer and more challenging to treat.Management of the chronic condition represents a scientiﬁc and ethical challenge; the animal’s welfare and lifetime experience have to be considered when determining the suitability of the treatment plan and its impact on any cumulative severity, against the option of euthanasia as the best case for the animal.This poster is a case study and refers to a purpose bred juvenile female Beagle dog presenting with unilateral hind limb muscular atrophy and lameness.

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Scientiﬁc Programme61POSTER DISPLAYSWILLIAM ARCHIBALDCharles River LaboratoriesTranent, Scotland, UKHANS VAN WIJKCovance LaboratoriesHarrogate, UKReﬁning cages for social housing of non-human primates on absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination (ADME) studiesIn respect of the 3Rs: do reﬁnements affect the surgery success rates in the bile duct cannulation model?The assessment and understanding of absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination (ADME) for new pharmaceuticals is required in regulatory submissions. Typically, ADME studies are conducted using metabolism cages designed for the single housing of animals to enable the quantitative collection of urine and faeces, normally over a 1 week period.Social housing of animals such as Non-human primates has a signiﬁcant positive impact on the welfare of the animals. Charles River has successfully performed many ADME studies with pair housed animals, with radioactivity recovery and plasma concentrations comparable to single housing. As traditional single housing cages are relatively small, we designed new and larger cages with improved features.This poster describes some of the advantages of the enhancements we have made.Bile duct cannulation is a relatively common procedure carried out in rats. Over the past three decades many reﬁnements have been made to the bile duct cannulation model. This poster details the reﬁnements made, the surgical success rates and the positive impacts reﬁnement has had on the model.

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Scientiﬁc Programme62POSTER DISPLAYSMARK WHITEUniversity College London (UCL)UKIRENE LOPEZ JUARISTIUniversity College London (UCL)UKPros and pros of selective cleaningA comparison of enrichment items for the promotion of natural gnawing behaviour in laboratory miceThe Kathleen Lonsdale Building (KLB), is a high speciﬁcation, high health status animal facility that opened in 2011. It is a full IVC facility with an integral quarantine section. It houses transgenic (TG) mice, inbred, outbred and immuno-suppressed mice and occasionally rats and hamsters. The reasons we decided to investigate included improving animal welfare with fewer disturbances to the cage through reduced cleaning and with a 60% increase in bedding, the ability for the mice to show some natural behaviours such as tunnelling, foraging and digging. We also wanted to work ‘leanly’, save the College money in product and labour time and create time for our Animal Technicians to do other things and provide much needed planned preventative maintenance on IVC racks and cages. Time did not allow this with the current system of cleaning. Of course, we were aware that reduced cleaning may increase ammonia levels in the cage so we assessed the environment of the IVC during the study with ammonia detectors to ensure cleaning took place at >25ppm but never exceeded >50ppm which could damage the nasopharynx regions of our mice.The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals states the goal should always be to maximise species speciﬁc behaviours and minimise stress-induced behaviours. Malocclusion is a common problem within laboratory mice, which occurs when the incisors overgrow because their jaws are misaligned and the mandibular and maxillary teeth do not properly occlude. Basic requirements for good rodent housing and husbandry are to provide material to gnaw such as wood blocks for maintaining general wellbeing. However, determining the amount or form of environmental enrichment needed to produce a positive impact without causing harm is a complex task. This study compares ﬁve different chew items to decide which one is the most suitable as part of cage enrichment for fulﬁlling animals’ natural gnawing needs.References: Committee for the Update of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, Institute for Laboratory Animal Research, Division on Earth and Life Studies, & National Research Council. (2011). Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals (8th ed.). National Academies Press. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2011. ISBN-13: 978-0-309-15400-0ISBN-10: 0-309-15400-6

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Scientiﬁc Programme63POSTER DISPLAYSHEATHER CALLAWAYUniversity College London (UCL)UKPAUL BARWOODUniversity College London (UCL)UKA comparison of Zebraﬁsh embryo collection using various methodsReﬁnement of water quality in Zebraﬁsh pair breedingWith the increase of scientiﬁc need for high volume output of good quality embryos from Zebraﬁsh has also come the rise of various breeding strategies and the development and modiﬁcation of tools in order to fulﬁl demand. Whilst much work has gone into this, the welfare of both parent and progeny may come second to the production of the desired embryo numbers. In order to determine if there is such a cost, a comparison was made between ﬁve different spawning methods and the quality of embryos that each produced: pairing, trays, and two types of mass embryo collection units, one of which was modiﬁed to become a preference choice based unit.These different methods and tools produced a variation of embryo volume as well as quality, indicating that stress has a negative impact on embryo viability. From both a scientiﬁc and welfare perspective, good breeding strategies are key; they should reduce stress and allow ﬁsh to express mate preference, as well as to choose whether to spawn or not. This type of reﬁnement can aid in devising breeding strategies that can use fewer numbers of ﬁsh and still produce a high volume of embryos.Small containers with static water are commonly used for breeding Zebraﬁsh when knowledge of parental stocks and genetic lineage is required. The size of the breeding chamber, age of the ﬁsh, frequency of pairing and stress are all factors which affect breeding performance. The timing of feeding before breeding and water quality degradation, have seen little investigation, with best practice varying from facility to facility and often relying on anecdotal information. The breeding boxes assessed hold 650ml of water and have no ﬂow or ﬁltration, meaning ﬁsh waste is not removed or broken down as in conventional housing systems. This comparatively unstable environment has the potential to impact breeding performance and can result in pain and suffering for the animal. This poster aims to investigate the impact of feeding and time when holding Zebraﬁsh in breeding boxes.

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Scientiﬁc Programme64POSTER DISPLAYSKAREN DUNFORD University College London (UCL)UKStiff as a board: handling frequency in Zebraﬁsh and its effect on rigor mortisAccording to Schedule 1 in the Animals (Scientiﬁc Procedures) Act 1986, euthanasia must include both a humane method of death and a conﬁrmation of death. For Zebraﬁsh, anaesthetic overdose is the appropriate method of death, whilst conﬁrmation of death can be multiple options, including onset of rigor mortis (RM). Currently, the Code of Practice advises minimising handling during euthanasia for all species, but does not quantify this minimisation; this can and does lead to variations and interpretations of handling frequency based on experience and logistics. We conducted an earlier trial that suggests RM may be used as an index to comparatively indicate high levels of pre-mortem stress; in that trial we found that the anaesthetic 2-Phenoxyethanol may cause more stress due to its physiological mechanisms, as it resulted in faster onset of RM. With this background, we conducted another trial to identify if pre-mortem stress due to frequency of handling can also impact this onset. We tested multiple anaesthetic agents with three types of handling (x1, x3, and x5) on two non-sacriﬁcial wild type strains. These were then monitored in timed intervals post-mortem in order to identify the rate of RM for each variable. The resulting preliminary index of RM rates indicates how far to minimise handling and therefore reﬁne basic S1K protocols and minimise unnecessary pre-mortem stress.IAT TECH MONTH 2021Remember to join us throughout March to celebrate the work of Animal Technologists with some fun quizzes, challenges and puzzlesDownload Your Participation PlaqueTake part in our fun Tech Month BINGO Challenges to win great prizesTo receive your BINGO card and submit your completed challenges throughout March, register athttps://eu.eventscloud.com/website/2712/techmonth/

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Scientiﬁc Programme65POSTER DISPLAYSJACQUELINE GLOVERKing’s College London (KCL)UKCHLOE STEVENSRSPCASouthwater, UKShining a light on rearing pigment-less ZebraﬁshEnrichment for laboratory ZebraﬁshZebraﬁsh strains expressing less pigmentation exhibit a lower survival rate during the early rearing stages in comparison to wild type strains. Light is one environmental factor which has been shown to inﬂuence the survival of wild type Zebraﬁsh larvae, however, research on its effect on other Zebraﬁsh strains is limited. At King’s College London, we compared the overall survival rate, spawning success, and fertility of three strains of Zebraﬁsh expressing varying pigment levels. Wild type, Albino and Crystal strains were housed at three different light intensities (32, 128 and 259 LUX). Zebraﬁsh strain was found to have a signiﬁcant effect on overall survival and spawning success, but not on fertility. In contrast, light intensity was not found to signiﬁcantly affect any of the independent variables measured, suggesting that differences in survival may be due to genetic rather than environmental factors.The Zebraﬁsh is one of the most commonly-used animals in scientiﬁc research and testing, both in the UK and worldwide, but best practice for many aspects of Zebraﬁsh husbandry and care is still debated. One such aspect is the use of environmental enrichment in Zebraﬁsh tanks. Whilst most facilities provide social enrichment in the form of group housing, and many provide live food to stimulate natural behaviour, generally little other enrichment is used. However, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that other forms of enrichment, such as plants or substrate, are preferred by Zebraﬁsh to barren tanks and can improve Zebraﬁsh welfare. This poster presents information on some of the different forms of enrichment which could be used for laboratory Zebraﬁsh and summarises the welfare beneﬁts these types of enrichment may be able to provide.

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Scientiﬁc Programme66POSTER DISPLAYSLORNA CLEVERLEYNational Agri-Food Innovation Campus (NAFIC)York, UKEfﬁcacy of Medola’s Blue stain in the assessment of Syphacia muris egg viabilitySyphacia muris (Nematoda: Oxyuridae); commonly known as the rat pinworm, is a parasite of rodents. This ubiquitous nematode commonly infects laboratory rodents, primarily rats, via direct and indirect transmission routes. Daily shedding of pinworm eggs in the host results in ingestion of the eggs and contamination of water, food and bedding. This provides a continual inoculum that results in frequent re-exposure of the host to the parasite making the control of pinworms difﬁcult.The assessment of Syphacia muris egg viability following the disinfection of an infested facility with an effective ovicidal agent can be costly and time consuming. Both viable and non-viable eggs will persist following treatment. It is not possible to visually assess the viability of eggs using standard microscopy. Therefore, to test the viability of eggs following treatment with an ovicidal agent, traditionally, eggs are subjected to hatching analysis using a suitable hatching media. Most hatching media’s have a short shelf life and to ensure that unhatched pinworm eggs are truly non-viable. It is advisable to test the hatching media on viable pinworm eggs before analysing treated eggs. Further to this, using hatching media for the visual assessment of hatched eggs is not ideal as juvenile nematodes are digested in the hatching media within 30 minutes of hatching. Therefore, assessment is purely based on eggs being correctly orientated on a Sellotape slide to allow the break in the egg cell wall that the juvenile nematode has vacated, to be visible. Medola’s Blue stain has been used in the viability assessment of plant-parasitic nematode eggs for many years. We propose that this stain is a useful tool in determining the viability of Syphacia muris ova in environmental and rodent samples when determining treatment/decontamination efﬁcacy in rodent facilities.

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Scientiﬁc Programme67POSTER DISPLAYSSELINA HOPKINSWellcome Sanger InstituteCambridge, UKJOE PEPLOEUniversity of CambridgeUKCage side determination of post-mortem interval in miceLaboratory primate enCHEAPment!Unexpected deaths in mice could be indicative of a potential welfare issue with consequences ranging from data loss to compliance breach under A(SP)A. A robust post-mortem interval scoring system in mice has yet to be developed, leaving this open to educated opinions. The aim of this study is to develop a cage-side scoring system, relying on mouse anatomical changes post-mortem, to provide a factual approximation of death and reduce over-reporting.In this study, we necropsied male C57BL6c-/ c- mice (6-8w), documented and scored the appearance of key organs between 0 and 48h after Schedule 1 euthanasia. Preliminary data conﬁrm signiﬁcant anatomical changes including skin elasticity, lividity within paws/toes, liver, intestinal distension and composition changes between time points.A catalogue of images and a drafted scoring system were created to assist technicians with dating cadavers and the reporting process, where required.There are a number of items we use regularly and often, in animal facilities that when ﬁnished with are just thrown away. However many of these items come in packaging that can be recycled to use as enrichment for our animals, particularly facilities housing primates. The use of recycled packaging as enrichment for primates is especially useful here in the UK because there are a limited number of suppliers of laboratory primate enrichment and they only have a small range of variation available to buy. Furthermore, along with supplier bought products, recycling materials such as plastic and cardboard for use as enrichment is a far cheaper way of improving the lives of the primates we work with (not to mention the boost our Animal Technicians have when they see our monkeys using and enjoying them).The ideas we have found to be most successful are when the enrichment is used in novel and more challenging ways of presenting the monkeys with food. This poster shows a number of enrichment ideas, using a range of common materials found in animal facilities, that we at Cambridge have made use of for our monkeys and hope this will be of interest to other similar facilities, to look at our enrichment ideas and create their own by recycling such materials.

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Scientiﬁc Programme68ALISON RITCHIEBiodiscovery Institute and the Centre of Cancer SciencesNottingham, UKThe jacket with pulling power(!) - a novel approach to early stage evaluation of magnetic nanoparticlesAs a cancer research group, one of our aims is to develop more efﬁcient methods of compound delivery. One current area we are investigating is that of theranostic nanoparticles, which combine a therapeutic agent with a diagnostic component and directly target a tumour, thus reducing potential side effects from systemic therapies. In order to deliver the nanoparticles to the tumour, they are magnetised during formulation and, after injection, are exposed to a magnetic ﬁeld located close to the tumour. In order to study the targeting efﬁciency as well as the theranostic properties of these magnetised nanoparticles, they need to be tested in vivo. Other researchers have used a variety of methods to expose the particles to a magnetic source, including:- MRI which is expensive, therefore impractical for early stage testing, requires lengthy anaesthesia and specialist equipment.- Sticking a magnet to the animal’s skin with tape or superglue can damage the skin and is difﬁcult to remove.- Surgically implanted subcutaneously requires full aseptic surgery and remains in place until termination. We wanted to develop an early stage testing system which would allow us to ﬁne tune the formulation of our nanoparticles prior to full translationally relevant testing, and which would demonstrate the efﬁciency of the targeting without the need for invasive or uncomfortable procedures. To this end, we decided to develop a novel, inexpensive and non-harmful way to present the magnet to the tumour and took our inspiration from the already widely available infusion jacket. Working with Lomir Biomedical, we designed a Spandex jacket with a pocket to house the magnet and proceeded to test our nanoparticles. While it was necessary to lightly sedate the mice in order to keep them still and, therefore, the magnet in position during exposure, the jacket can easily be removed and replaced according to the speciﬁcs of the experimental protocol. Thus, we hoped to deliver the particles intravenously and then direct them towards the tumour with the magnet. Preliminary data is very promising and, while we have identiﬁed some areas for improvement, we believe this system can be used to quickly and easily test different nanoparticle formulations, giving us the opportunity to improve and reformulate them prior to taking them forward into more translationally relevant studies, while ensuring high welfare standards for the mice throughout the procedure.POSTER DISPLAYS

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Scientiﬁc Programme69AIMEE BAINBRIDGEThe Pirbright InstituteWoking, UKLOUIS KITCHENHAMSainsbury Wellcome CentreLondon, UKImproving welfare of cattle housed in a high-containment facility using behavioural analysisPractical strategies to ensure the provision of food and water for laboratory mice and ratsAnimal behaviour is an observable and quantiﬁable measure of the effects of various factors on an animal, including the external environment. The relatively non-invasive nature of behavioural analysis minimises the inﬂuence of human presence. The Pirbright Institute (TPI) has been trialling the use of behavioural analysis of cattle to investigate whether acclimatisation to a high-containment facility can be quantiﬁed and therefore improved. In this poster two approaches are described; CCTV recording and staff observations.For the ﬁrst approach, the room in which cattle were housed was recorded 24/7 using a ceiling mounted 360° camera. This was carried out over nine days from the point of arrival. An ethogram was formulated and a selection of locomotive behaviours were studied using Observer XT (Noldus) software. It was observed that during the acclimatisation period, time spent walking around the room decreased and time spent standing increased. The preliminary data suggests that cattle at TPI acclimatise to their environment around 72 hours after their arrival.The provision of food and water for laboratory animals, while being arguably the simplest aspect of animal husbandry, is still a major cause of non-compliance issues within UK based research establishments. According to the ASRU 2017 report, a failure to provide food and water accounted for 20% of all non-compliance cases, a rather sizeable proportion considering the necessity of the task. This problem is further exacerbated with the introduction of permissible food and ﬂuid restrictions. At the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, (SWC), approximately 180 experimental animals would be on a restriction at any one time, including on bank holidays and at weekends. To ensure all animals, be they on restriction or not, were provided with food and water, and to address the danger of non-compliance, we successfully developed and introduced a three-tier checking system. This poster looks at the development and implementation of the checking and information system we now use to ensure compliance and welfare.POSTER DISPLAYS

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Scientiﬁc Programme70POSTER DISPLAYSIAN WILSONInstitute of Cancer Research (ICR)London, UKAn electronic based experimental protocol has “ARRIVED”Historically Experimental Protocols for in vivo experiments have been paper based and submitted for approval in person. A common drawback to this process is the many ‘copy and paste’ errors that can occur during document creation, version control and insufﬁcient study information being supplied. The publication of the Animal research: Reporting in vivo experiments: The ARRIVE guidelines (Kilkenny et al 2010) is intended to improve the reporting of research using animals – maximising information published and minimising unnecessary studies.The aim of an electronic protocol is to directly integrate the values put forward by the ARRIVE guidelines and standardise the various versions of paper based protocols submitted. In turn this provides the submitter a platform to consider the wider health, safety and welfare implications of their study.Pre-scripted electronic layout guides encourage forethought around the 3Rs. Additionally ‘Dropbox’ functions for gathering information prompts the applicant to consider steps involved within their experiment helping eliminate ‘copy and paste’ errors, as each protocol becomes unique. In turn, this can dramatically reduce variability between documents and make subsequent experiments more reproducible whilst still giving parity to the ARRIVE guidelines.The generation of documents on an electronic system enables submission and approvals of protocols to be made remotely, ensuring the document reaches the correct person immediately. Sequentially cross-referencing skills training, competence and compliance can be made before the study commences.A declaration statement is required prior to ﬁnal submission. This requires the applicant to review all aspects of legal compliance within the submission document.Reference: Kilkenny C, Browne WJ, Cuthill IC et al. (2010). Animal research: Reporting in vivo experiments: The ARRIVE guidelines. Laboratory Animals 44(4):377-378

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Scientiﬁc Programme71POSTER DISPLAYSJOANNA MOOREGlaxoSmithKline (GSK)Stevenage, UKHome caging monitoring – investing in the futureHome cage monitoring is not a new technique, yet there is a long way to go before the ideal system will be available. If indeed such a system could ever exist? Several criteria need to be considered and a system that ﬁts all situations may not be feasible. There are a few ‘off the shelf’ cage monitoring options available, each working in a different way to the other. These differences may lead to some reproducibility difﬁculties as the ethograms of observed behaviours may not map across from systems with cameras viewing cages from different angles, or where behaviours have been deﬁned by different research groups. These observations must also be deﬁned and inputted correctly in the ﬁrst instance or algorithms of behaviours will be ﬂawed. Better objectivity may therefore, be found in systems where cameras are not the primary source of data, as these systems give a more deﬁnite answer in terms of movement: no movement, heart rate up; heart rate down. However without some behaviour data to back it up, subtle behavioural changes may be missed. Another hurdle to overcome with any of the systems is group housing social animals without using an invasive procedure to enable the system to recognise individuals. This is likely to be insurmountable and microchips may always be needed to maintain social housing during home cage monitoring. This may cause difﬁculties, for example, in areas where MRI scans could be required as part of the study. This poster gives a broad overview of the concept of Home Cage monitoring, the criteria which could be used to assess a system, and the validation criteria used to determine which system may best answer the scientiﬁc question being asked of it.

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Scientiﬁc Programme72JOANNA MOORE GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)Stevenage, UKThe use of home cage monitoring to determine whether individual male mouse activity patterns correlate with nest complexityIt is well established that nesting materials are an important inclusion for mouse cages. We wanted to determine whether there was a signiﬁcant difference in mice activity when offered three different material choices and whether there was any correlation between activity in the cage and nest complexity. We individually housed nine adult male mice in Digital Ventilated Cages (DVC), and offered each mouse one of three nesting options for a seven-day period, either Lignocel Large, 9gms of shredded paper, or a combination of Lignocel and shredded paper as well as a red igloo and fun tunnel. After seven days the nest was given a score in terms of complexity using the method published by Jirkof et al (2013) and the mice were moved to a clean cage with a different nesting option for a further seven days until each mouse has been exposed to each option. We used the established home-cage monitoring system to determine whether there were clear differences in the activity pattern of mice depending on the nesting, and whether these were related to the complexity of the nest. This poster discusses the results of our analysis and whether the nesting offered to mice can reduce the disruption in their activity pattern. All animal studies were ethically reviewed and carried out in accordance with Animals (Scientiﬁc Procedures) Act 1986 and the GSK Policy on the Care, Welfare and Treatment of Animals.” Reference: Jirkof P, Fleischmann T, Cesarovic N, Rettich A, Vogel J and Arras M. (2013). Assessment of postsurgical distress and pain in laboratory mice by nest complexity scoring. Laboratory Animals, 47(3), 153–161.POSTER DISPLAYS

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Scientiﬁc Programme73JOANNA MOORE GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)Stevenage, UKUsing home cage monitoring to determine the impact of timed mating on male mouse welfare The use of sterile male mice to induce pseudopregnancy in female mice assigned for the implantation of embryos is a vital component in the production of Genetically Altered Animals (GAA). To achieve this we use Protamine1 (Prm1) transgenic male Hemizygous mice which are genetically sterile due to this mutation. These males are often kept for up to nine months and are housed with a companion female. During the timed mating period the companion is swapped for a new female. We wanted to determine whether there was a potential impact on male mouse welfare when their female companion was swapped. We hypothesised that the impact in cage activity will signiﬁcantly increase when a companion female is replaced with a new naïve female. We used an established home-cage monitoring system to determine how much disruption is created to the activity pattern in cages when a companion female is swapped compared to when she is just removed and replaced in the pair’s home-cage. We found that there is a potential impact on the welfare of male mice as a result of timed mating which could lead to a decrease in their wellbeing if they are used for repeated timed mating. The impact of this intervention may be reduced if timed mating occurred in the late afternoon, closer to the naturally active phase. Further studies will be designed to enable us to have a clearer understanding of the activity and impact on these animals. All animal studies were ethically reviewed and carried out in accordance with the Animals (Scientiﬁc Procedures) Act 1986 and the GSK Policy on the Care, Welfare and Treatment of Animals.POSTER DISPLAYS

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TRADE EXHIBITION74 Trade ExhibitionAlways fast, sometimes furious and deﬁnitely fun!Each company has only a few minutes to virtually enthral you with their services and products. We have two sessions this year and here are the details on approximate timings and participants.Wednesday 10th MarchTime 14:30 Alison Hopkins a-tune software AG 14:33 Nicky Windows and Ryan Hill Datesand Ltd 14:36 Sue Parker IPS Product Supplies Ltd14:39 Anthony Iglesias LBS (Serving Biotechnology) 14:42 John Waters Impex 14:45 Melanie Klein and Paul Mackin NKP-Isotec 14:48 Debbie Carter Plexx BV 14:51 Marlene Mikkola SCANBUR 14:54 Andy Dickinson Surrey Diagnostics Ltd 14:57 Ian Fielding Tecniplast Thursday 11th MarchTime14:30 Toby Sanders Agenda Life Sciences14:33 Rachel Maylott Avidity Science14:36 Olaf Gelsen GVG Diagnostics GmbH14:39 Jon Faupel Janvier Labs14:42 Alistair Vincent MMM Medical Equipment UK14:45 Borja Gorbena NorayBio Software14:48 Sara Wu RWD Life Science14:51 Max Albring Scionics Computer Innovation GmbH14:54 Dan Harding and Anais Eusebio Sychem14:57 Robert Davis TPS/Gruenberg Dry Heat Sterilizers15:00 David Porteous TransnetyxFlash Trade SessionsAnimal Technology - where good science communication is vital

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TRADE EXHIBITIONDelegates are invited to join each of these interactive forums hosted by our industry partners.NKP-Isotec Wednesday 10th March 10.00 – 11.00 hrsJoin Melanie Klein and Paul Mackin for their very ﬁrst IAT Interactive Trade Session. They will be discussing some exciting topics including: biocontainment Level 3 and 4 isolators, behaviour studies equipment, retroﬁtting of auto-watering systems and laboratory furniture including the popular laptop trolleys.If you are not able to join them, feel free to get in touch and they will be happy to provide you with a copy of the presentation.Avidity Science Wednesday 10th March 11.00 – 12.00 hrsJoin James Cardwell for this drop-in session where you will be able to meet your new UK/Ireland contact, Rachel Maylott. Rachel will be talking about the one thing we all take for granted - Water.She will be demonstrating the variabilities you can ﬁnd in water and how you can combat these in your facility. There will also be a chance to ask her any questions you may have about water or our products and services. We will also be holding a special prize draw so don’t miss out!Envigo UK Ltd Wednesday 10th March 12.00 – 13.00 hrsWhat’s a health monitoring program got to do with it? Join Kelly Barnett and Ani Obaya to ﬁnd out.Agenda Life Sciences Thursday 11th March 10.00 – 11.00 hrsJoin Ross Millard, Judith Fowlston, Laura Gilbey and Toby Sanders who will answer any questions you may have about our products and services.Trade Interactive Forums75Trade Exhibition

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition76Tecniplast UK Thursday 11th March 11.00 – 12.00 hrsInnovation for your Laboratory Animal FacilityDo you want to know what products are available to make your like easier in your laboratory animal facility?Then why not join Carl Breacker, Fred Newborough, James Latta, Nick Bladon, Mike Rollings, David Rooks, Sharon Sears, Simon Mizen, Clare Belton and Andy Humes.During this session we will take you through the latest product innovations from Tecniplast and show you how they can enhance your lab animal facility. Aquatics Solutions will showcase the recently launched InterZebtec; the latest in aquatics environmental monitoring, alongside the Z Park and 2.4 litre tank. From our Housing Division we will demonstrate the Isolator P and show how this can support your Germ Free work.Janvier Labs Tuesday 16th March 10.00 – 11.00 hrsJoin us for a drop-in session to ask any questions you may have.GVG Diagnostics GmbH Tuesday 16th March 11.00 – 12.00 hrsJoin us to learn more about lour routine health screening programs – reliable service at competitive pricinglour new microbiome characterisation program per shotgun NGSlbackground checks and speed congenics through our panel of highly informative STR markerslSnooplex kit for genotyping from swab sampleslour target genotyping service for wt/mutScionics Computer Innovation GmbH Tuesday 16th March 12.00 – 13.00 hrsJoin us for a drop-in session to ask any questions you may have about our products and services.

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition77Sychem Wednesday 17th March 10.00 – 11.00 hrsJoin us for a drop-in session to ask any questions you may have about our products and services.a-tune Software Wednesday 17th March 11.00 – 12.00 hrsConnecting data, processes and people … please join us.IPS Ltd Wednesday 17th March 12.00 – 13.00 hrsJoin the team for a drop-in session to ask any questions you may have about our products and services.TPS/Gruenberg Thursday 18th March 10.00 – 11.00 hrsJoin us to discover our dry heat sterilisers and to ask any questions you may have.MMM Medical Equipment Ltd Thursday 18th March 11.00 – 12.00 hrsJoin Alistair Vincent, UK Sales Manager to ask any questions you may have about our products and services.Datesand Ltd Thursday 18th March 12.00 – 13.00 hrsJoin us for a drop-in session to ask any questions you may have about our products and services.

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition78RWD Life Science Tuesday 23rd March 10.00 – 11.00 hrsJoin us to discover how to quickly and precisely perform rodent surgery experiments.Transnetyx Wednesday 24th March 10.00 – 11.00 hrsJoin Kanika Coleman, Manuel Vazquez and David Porteous.Animals in Science Education Trust Wednesday 24th March 12.00 – 13.00 hrsJoin Wendy Steel for a drop-in session to ask any questions you may have about AS-ET.AS-ET 7Bell Isolation Systems Ltd 24Datesand Ltd Inside Front CoverEnvigo 8IPS Product Supplies Ltd 10Institute of Animal Technology 4,18, 37, Back CoverLBS Serving Biotechnology Ltd 20R C Hartelust bv Inside Back CoverScionics Computer Innovation GmbH 3Tecniplast 14-15University of Cambridge 42INDEX TO ADVERTISERS PageAnimal Technology - where good science communication is vital

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition79Trade Partners ExhibitionAgenda Life SciencesChoosing Agenda as your resourcing partner means that you receive a service which provides you with choice, not compromise. Your business is unique and because of this, we offer a bespoke service to each of our clients. We are the only life science recruitment and temporary stafﬁng provider that actively run our own research facilities. Working with Agenda will mean you can take advantage of our unique position within the Life Science industry. Our team fully understand the speciﬁc requirements of the sector and develop a tailored approach to working with you. Our service offerings include permanent recruitment, temporary stafﬁng, and facility management.Why choose Agenda for your recruitment?You will beneﬁt from our specialist recruitment team who have worked directly in life sciences and are experts at understanding this sector’s very speciﬁc requirements, better than anyone else. Specialist areas include: animal technology, histology, genetics, molecular biology, immunology, neurology, oncology, pharmacology, toxicology and more.lyou gain access to our large database of technologists seeking career developmentl360-degree support is provided by our experienced, friendly and professional recruitment consultants who guide you through every step of the processldetailed pre-employment screening (including our unique Animal Rights Connection checks) and suitability interviews conducted before you interviewDo you need a temporary stafﬁng solution?Whether you need an additional resource for a speciﬁc research project, cover for long-term absence, maternity or holiday cover, or just want the ﬂexibility of a temporary stafﬁng solution, Agenda are perfectly placed to help.All of the candidates we have on ﬁle have been speciﬁcally selected by us because they have something special to offer your business. By carrying out rigorous and comprehensive interviews and inductions we ensure that only the very best temporary candidates make it through the process, with every technician boasting relevant qualiﬁcations and proven work experience.lshort/long term cover offering greater ﬂexibility - choose a bespoke solution that ﬁts your requirementslyou choose from our large pool of experienced technicians based nationwide, to ﬁll any gaps your resourcing may havelsolve your HR headaches. Agenda saves you time and money and ensures you have peace of mind with our rigorous pre-employment screening process

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition80lthe only fast-start Licensed Technicians available on the market, allowing your team the correct level of support right from the startlour highly regarded Welfare First programme cares for the people who care for the animals, including key elements such as a welfare contract, Welfare First e-newsletter, training and development to provide the support to deliver great animal care and welfareFlexible Facility Management from AgendaResearch projects are unique and require a tailored Facility Management service which can grow with your ever-changing requirements. Outsourcing your Facility Management needs means that you are able to further your research success by centring your focus on your projects and studies. Whether you need a full-service solution at a site of your choosing, or want to conduct and control your research in one of our state-of-the-art facilities, Agenda can provide a partnership approach to suit. Here are just some of the things we can help you with as part of our facility management service -lcompliance and regulatory oversightlanimal Care and Welfarelstafﬁng solutionslprocurement and budgetinghello@agendalifesciences.co.uk https://www.agendalifesciences.com/ +44 (0) 8456 445545Animals in Science Education TrustThe Animals in Science Education Trust (AS-ET) is a charity registered under the UK Charities Act 1993. The aim of the trust is to advance education and promote excellence in the care and welfare of animals used in science.It seeks to achieve this aim by:lproviding bursaries for course fees, travel and accommodation;lproviding funding to develop teaching packages;lsupporting the development of handbooks, DVDs and other course material;lsupporting the development of web based learning;lsupporting students with special needsAS-ET was set up by the Institute of Animal Technology (IAT) but now operates as a separate organisation. It is headed by two distinguished scientists; Professor Lord Naren Patel KT (Patron) and Professor Sir Richard Gardner FIAT (Hon), FRS who chairs the board of

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition81four trustees. The trustees welcome applications from individuals for ﬁnancial support for activities that are in accordance with our aims.Please visit the Auction Page on the website to browse the items and place your bids.https://www.animalsinscienceeducationtrust.org.uk/ contact@as-et.org.uka-tune Software Elevating Freedom to Conduct ResearchIntuitive and easy to use, tick@lab centrally manages your animal records and enables the management of your breeding colonies for all species including aquatics. Users working with animals can securely access their required information in real time using any device (notebook, tablet, PC...). Alerts and requests enhance communication between users. The use of conﬁgurable forms allows any activity (experimental, health and treatment plans, breeding, etc.) to be recorded directly into the animal proﬁle making it searchable for transparency and simplicity.tick@lab integrates compliance management, facility and animal operations including census/cage management, billing, and breeding into one central integrated platform. It ensures data traceability as well as transparency while mitigating compliance risks.tick@lab is designed to electronically manage the requirements of the Home Ofﬁce and the Directive 2010/63/EU by collecting data and generating the reports (Statistical returns and EU Bred and un-used) required to meet the regulations.In the background, tick@lab automatically applies compliance checks, tracks animal numbers against protocols and collects costs associated to animal activities for billing purposes.tick@lab also tracks compliance with training requirements for all personnel involved on a protocol and manages training and competency information.sales@a-tune.com https://www.a-tune.com/ +49 6151 95131-0Avidity ScienceAvidity Science is a water puriﬁcation technologies company that is a trusted partner to the global research industry. We are the world-leading supplier in automated animal watering systems, water puriﬁcation and treatment systems, environmental monitoring software, and laboratory equipment. Our aim is to protect animal health and valuable research.

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition82Our Automated Watering Systems deliver puriﬁed water on demand, 24 hours a day, eliminating ergonomic injuries and reducing the costs associated with bottle cleaning, ﬁlling and manipulation. It’s never too late either, as our systems can be ﬁtted in any facility and are fully scalable. Our animal drinking valve technology is also the most reliable on the market having been developed over the last 40 years.Our Watchdog EX™ cloud-based control and monitoring software provides real-time data readings, alarming, and reporting through an intuitive user interface that puts you in total control of your facility’s data. From room and freezer temperatures to differential pressure and humidity, customisable reports and alarm limits ensure your facility’s animals are safe.UK.info@avidityscience.com https://www.avidityscience.com/en_gb/ +44 (0) 1844 201142Charles River For 70 years, researchers worldwide have trusted Charles River as their source for the highest quality animal models and related services. Offering a broad selection of species and strains, we support today’s most critical research with the timely delivery of study-ready, preconditioned and genetically engineered animals.Our leading scientists and global network of AAALAC-accredited vivaria and breeding facilities provide clients with accessible, expert management of outsourced colonies, biology services for line creation, maintenance and preservation, advanced diagnostics, and health monitoring to guarantee the long-term success of their work.Charles River: More than a mouse!AskCharlesRiver@crl.com https://www.criver.com/rmsDatesand LtdWith over 40 years of unrivalled experience, Datesand have always led the way when it comes to meeting the supply needs of the world’s leading laboratories. Not to mention continually pushing the boundaries of innovation within the Biotechnology sector.The proud creators of the Janet Wood Award, Datesand provide Animal Technicians and Industry Experts with the opportunity to design market-breaking products of tomorrow.Datesand provide the widest range of husbandry and LAS critical consumables offered by a single supplier.

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition83When you choose Datesand, you are choosing experience, quality, innovation and a passionate, family-led team of professionals who will always put the customer ﬁrst.sales@datesand.com https://datesand.com/ 0800 161 5831Envigo UK LtdEnvigo provides the broadest range of research models and related services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, government, academia, and other life science organisations. As the largest organisation that is solely dedicated to providing research models and related products and services, we are committed to helping researchers realise the full potential of their critical R&D projects as we fulﬁll our mission to work together to build a healthier and safer world.In 2019, Envigo expanded our service offering by acquiring the assets of the research models business unit of Horizon Discovery Group plc (“Horizon”, LSE:HZD). Horizon’s research models business unit provides genetically engineered models and services from its locations in St Louis, Missouri and Boyertown, Pennsylvania. The business unit uses gene-editing technology and expertise to produce customised models with relevant gene deletions, insertions and other modiﬁcations, which are then used as models for human disease during drug discovery and development.rms.uk@envigo.com https://www.envigo.com/ +44 (0) 1869 243241GVG Diagnostics GmbHIn addition to the complete range of tests recommended by FELASA, GVG Diagnostics also offers a raft of tests important and necessary for the health monitoring of laboratory animals. Our test routines include testing of live animals, in vivo and environmetal samples (through PCR). Our latest product is the complete in-house microbiome characterisation by shotgun NGS.GVG Genetic Monitoring offers a range of molecular genetic services including mouse genotyping for genetic background checks, accelerated marker-assisted back-crossing projects(“Speed Congenics“) and our fully comprehensive target genotyping service.Feel free to get in touch with us.+49 341 3929869-0 info@gvg-diagnostics.de www.gvg diagnostics.de

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition84ImpexImpex have successfully transported livestock on a worldwide and domestic basis for over 20 years. We are Europe’s largest specialist livestock courier and market leaders in the transportation of non-agricultural animals and delicate or endangered species.Our service extends throughout the UK, Europe and the rest of the World, making us a truly Global Courier. Our friendly and dedicated team are waiting to offer you a service second to none.Impex have developed strategic relationships with international air couriers to provide door-to-door, seamless Domestic, European and Global controlled transportation.linternational and domestic licensed aircraft operatorslsecurity cleared air and ground crewsltranscontinental availability to and from most major airports world-widelaccompanied door-to-door export/import capabilitylfull, fast freight clearance at all locationsinfo@impex-uk.com http://www.impex-uk.com/ +44 (0) 8456 021662IPS International Product Supplies LtdWe can all do our bit for the environmentIPS is a leading supplier of high quality and ethically sourced products and brands including LabDiet®, TestDiet®, Lignocel Bedding, BenchGuards®. For IAT Congress 2021 we are delighted to be launching a new range of eco-friendly BenchGuard® clinical hygiene products which are made from Bamboo and are 100% biodegradable. The strength and absorbency of these products will knock your bamboo socks off and they will soon become your go-to wipes and absorption products for your procedure and animal holding rooms, isolators and perhaps even your staff rooms!For more information and samples for this green solution please visit us during Congress or join our interactive sessionbenchguard@ipsltd.biz customers@ipsltd.biz http://www.ipsltd.biz/ +44 (0) 870 600 1616

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition85Janvier LabsAs an international player of biomedical research, JANVIER LABS supplies experimental models with the highest standards.JANVIER LABS takes care of your models to allow you to devote yourself fully to your research projects.Thanks to its unique site, the largest and most modern in Europe, JANVIER LABS provides you with experimental models with the highest level of quality.We assure you of rigorous breeding conditions essential to the homogeneity and reproducibility of your experimental results: health status (SPF and SOPF), genetic stability, a single microbiota, animal welfare.A family-owned and independent company, JANVIER LABS ensures availability, responsiveness, excellence and transparency on the quality of its models, products and services.Discover our new NXG model as well as our 360 ° range of immunodeﬁcient models.We offer comprehensive support for your models by our experts, from creation to delivery, including the preparation of your models in the laboratory.Throughout the year, you will discover our new models and services which will complement our offer to best meet your needs. Contact Jon Faupel at jonathan.faupel@janvier-labs.com or 07507 363717 for more information.contact@janvier-labs.com https://immunoonco.janvier-labs.com/en/https://www.janvier-labs.com/ +33 (0) 2 43 02 11 91Laboratory Animal Science Association (LASA)The UK society for scientists and laboratory animal professionals with an interest in animal research, 3Rs, care and welfare, education and training, ethics and policy and regulation of animal research.LASA was founded in 1963 by a consortium of industrial, university, ministry and research council representatives – a breadth of interest which is still typical of the LASA membership today. Through our mission statement ‘To advance scientiﬁc understanding and knowledge of the use, care and welfare of laboratory animals and promote reﬁnement, reduction and replacement’ we aim to encourage and facilitate education and training in laboratory animal science.

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition86LASA promotes the interchange of information through meetings, lectures, discussions and publications. There are seven specialist sections of LASA which together provide a forum to discuss the latest developments in the areas of specialised scientiﬁc interest.We welcome applications of membership from Individuals and Organisations. info@lasa.co.uk https://www.lasa.co.uk/ +44 (0) 8456 711956LBS BiotechAs an independent family run business since 1939, where integrity still counts, heritage and tenacity runs through the very veins and DNA of LBS. These have played no small part in its success as a leading supplier of diet, bedding, consumables and services to the biotech industry as we head into our 82nd year. Whilst the company takes immense pride in its heritage we recognise that it is only through a relentless and a consistent focus on meeting and exceeding the requirements of our domestic and international customers in the biotechnology industry that we maintain this position.We offer a combination of tried and tested products and through a continual process of product development, new innovative product solutions. All of this is backed through our commitment to ISO 9001:2015 quality assurance, customer service and logistics management. This is further underpinned and developed through a process of working closer with the understanding of our customers’ needs, at which we aim to excel.Contact us for expert advice on:lresearch and zoo dietslresearch bedding and nesting materiallenvironmental enrichment productslPPE including clothing and footwearlAniBio animal facility management software – covers all your essential needsldisinfectants and all allied productslbespoke irradiated packaging and supplieslspecialist vacuum / ﬂoor care productslbroad range of specialist equipment and products for Animal Technologistslprice promise sales@lbs-biotech.com http://www.lbs-biotech.com/ +44 (0) 1293 827940

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition87Marshall BioResourcesMarshall UK is a division of Marshall BioResources Inc., and our Home Ofﬁce designated breeding and supplying facilities are located in Grimston, near Hull, East Yorkshire and Wyton in Cambridgeshire. We supply Marshall Beagles® and have full barrier facilities for the production of ‘Inﬂuenza-free’ ferrets and SPF Guinea pigs and mice. Using ﬂexible ﬁlm isolators, we breed the IFNAR type 1 and type 2 interferon receptor KO mice (A129 and AG129) as well as the wild type control (129 SvEv). Our SPF Dunkin Hartley Guinea pigs have a high health status and remain negative for many pathogens including Guinea pig CMV and PI3.Marshall UK also offers Contract Services including small research projects and animal breeding and housing of customers’ own strains.Our Scientiﬁc Services team offers a highly regarded Animal Health Monitoring Service and we are able to perform health screening at your site or, using our collection service, your samples can be brought to Grimston for testing.Biological matrices from a range of donors (rodents, Marshall Beagles®, rabbits, humans, NHP’s and farm animals) are also available. We offer a very quick turnaround of your orders for whole blood, plasma, serum, tissues and many other bioproducts.BNKsales@marshallbio.com https://www.marshallbio.com/ +44 (0) 1964 527555MMM Medical Equipment LtdTotal Solutions for Infection Control UnitsThe MMM Group founded in 1954 in Munich, Germany has supplied sterilizing equipment to both laboratories and research centres for over sixty six years and is one of the strongest manufacturing groups in Europe.MMM Sterilizers are designed with reliability built in, offering you peace of mind for your animal facility. Each stage of manufacture, installation and after-sales care is quality controlled to provide the long-life cycle you need. This level of reliability and continued after-sales and service support has earned us ‘preferred supplier status’ with many of our clients.MMM in the UK is centrally located in Leeds and was founded in 1997. Since that time we have worked hard to earn and maintain our excellent reputation for autoclave quality and reliability in both the UK and Ireland. This has been achieved by providing the following:

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition88lour own PRINCE2® qualiﬁed project management team to deliver you a stress-free project on budget, on timelfactory trained team of service engineers based at locations throughout the country (UK & Ireland)lfactory trained systems and installation personnel enable us to work closely with your Architects, Design teams and Planning DepartmentslISO Quality standards in 9001, 14001 and 45001This allows us to take full control of projects as a sub or principal contractor from the initial concept through to installation, commissioning, ﬁnal validation and successful handover to our clients.Contact Alistair and the MMM UK team to discuss your requirements and we will be happy to help with any assistance you require.enquiries@mmm-group.co.uk https://www.mmmgroup.com/en/products+44 (0) 113 3910717NKP-IsotecSince the 1950s NKP has had a strong relationship with the research industry, developing plastic caging and housing systems worldwide. Through recent years, NKP-Isotec has developed a wide range of Flexible Film Isolators for various species, bio-safety cabinets and associated sundry items. With the help of our trusted Research partners, we have established a reputable line of products that have animal welfare, user satisfaction and eco-friendly solutions at their core. Customer requirements and services are at the heart of our business, and we therefore offer support, training and bespoke manufacturing in order to meet our client’s requests.Our interactive session will discuss the following topics:lbiocontainment Level 3 & 4llab furniture from laptop trolleys through to sinks and work bencheslbehavioural studies equipmentlretroﬁtting auto-watering systems in partnership with Avidity ScienceYour ideas drive us forwardsales@nkpisotec.com https://nkpisotec.com/ +44 (0) 1530 510113

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition89NorayBio AniBio is an easy-to-use software solution designed to improve the management of the animal facility and its animals, facilitating the daily tasks and activities of each user and ensuring the traceability of data.This year, NorayBio launches a new version of AniBio with a completely evolved and adapted interface that allows each user total navigability over the application modules.anibio@noraybio.com https://www.noraybio.com/en/ +34 94 403 6998Orbit Search Established in 2018, Orbit Search has grown and developed to become one of the leading agencies in the Life Sciences ﬁeld. We pride ourselves in connecting high calibre talent to leading organisations globally.We are passionate about the life sciences industry, and we aim to provide truly comprehensive recruiting solutions to both jobseekers and employers alike.With over twenty-ﬁve years of combined recruitment experience, whether it will be for entry level or executive level positions; you are in safe hands whilst we provide you with an ‘out of this world’ recruitment experience at competitive rates.hello@orbitsearch.co.uk https://orbitsearch.co.uk/ +44 (0) 20 7965 7799Plexx BVPlexx BV is the sole European representative for BioMedic Data Systems, Lab Products Inc, E-Z Systems/Euthanex and as of last year, Iwaki Aquatic Systems. With nearly 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biomedical industry, we have a proven track record of providing high quality products and outstanding customer service.Animal Identiﬁcation - Injectable transponders give the option to program unique identiﬁcation codes as well as reading body temperature. Additional data can also be collected by connecting weighing scales and tumour measurement devices.

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition90Individually ventilated Micro Isolator systems - Protect both your staff and animals with our positive cage in a negative rack design. Zebraﬁsh and Xenopus Housing Systems - Newly designed tanks and racks with high quality components and remote access and control.Hydropac - An innovative way to deliver water to rodents using on-site produced pouches and drip-free single use valves.Anaesthesia equipment - User friendly, simple operation equipment with a level of precise automation that minimises operator error.Automated Home Cage Euthanasia Systems - Humane gradient CO2 systems for small, medium and large numbers of cages at the press of a button.Enrichment, Treats and Special Diets for all laboratory animal species.info@plexx.eu https://www.plexx.eu/ +31 481 377 797RWD Life ScienceFounded in 2002 and headquartered in Shenzhen, China, RWD Life Science specialises in life science, animal healthcare and medical devices. With more than 600 employees and over 100 R&D engineers, RWD has offered high quality products and service to more than 2,000 laboratories in 100 countries all over the world.RWD is committed to innovation based on global customer needs by providing smart solutions of respiratory anaesthesia, neuroscience research, animal behaviour research, surgery and nursing, and pathological analysis. RWD products are more innovative, more efﬁcient and more reliable, easy to install, creating value for customers to achieve better research with higher quality and lower maintenance cost. Looking into the future, we shall adhere to the core values of quality, integrity, responsibility and contribute to the advancement and development of pre-clinical and medical clinic applications across an international market. rwd@rwdmall.com https://www.rwdstco.com/ +86 7558 6111 286

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition91S3 ScienceMaking permanent and temporary Animal Technician placements at all levels nationwide since 2002Our background - S3 has been placing new and experienced Animal Technicians within clients animal facilities for almost 2 decades. With over 25 years combined recruitment experience we are the sole or preferred supplier to many clients, with recruitment solutions that deliver on time and on budget. Our candidates - We have a passion for sourcing candidates with good animal welfare and a desire to work with laboratory animals at the heart of their career aspirations. We ﬁnd local talent, with the right skills for the role on offer. We don’t believe in placing expensive temporary workers to work far from home, or in a role above or below their experience level.Our Animal Technician Development Programme (ATDP) ensures a steady stream of trained and available technicians 24/7, 365 days a year. The programme enroles new technicians for basic training, having completed their animal related studies at college or university. Our inhouse Animal Technician trainers work with the new technicians through several industry speciﬁc online study modules before ﬁnally matching them up to a local clients animal facility for 12 weeks work experience. ATDP partner employers can go onto employ their newly trained technician either permanently, as a temporary worker at not-for-proﬁt charge rates, or to further their development via an apprenticeship programme. Our creation of the ATDP has changed the face of new technician recruitment and achieved an amazing into work ratio of 96% for the past 3 years.Our recruitment methods - We are excited to announce a new recruitment tool for busy hiring managers. Our candidate presentation platform lets hiring managers see and hear prospective candidates discussing working for them and answering clients pre-set questions to the role they are hiring for, whilst presenting their skills and work history.Finding the right candidate has never been easier - Clients set the questions, and the candidate records their answers within 48 hours of the vacancy going live. No need to book a meeting room or wait for a colleague to share their availability to attend the interview. Forward the candidate presentation to your colleagues or manager for their feedback too. Replay the candidates presentation and answers, whenever and wherever you like, if you are home working, at the ofﬁce, or on the go from your mobile device, laptop or computer.Click on the links below to view some of our recent placements. View the interview questions on the left and watch the candidate present their answer on the right. Click on each question in turn to view the complete presentation.- Video Interview Review For Sophie Wildman – we utilised the video interview process ourselves when hiring for our Training Manager vacancy. On the back of our questions, Sophie recorded a great presentation and landed the job.

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition92- Video Interview Review For Amy Sizer – our client, Royal Free hired Amy after viewing her presentation.Talk to us today to arrange a demonstration of our innovative candidate presentation platform, or to discuss your recruitment strategy and see how we can help realise your recruitment goals.CVs say nothing, let your next hire really impress you+44 (0) 203 924 0166 info@s3science.com www.ATDP.org www.s3science.comwww.s3discovery.comScanburIt is SCANBUR’s mission to successfully and innovatively develop, produce and sell equipment for in vivo medical research and cleanroom production globally hence contribute to preventing and curing diseases: Improving Life Sciences.ScanClime for Scantainer and IVC - a compact and mobile plug and play air handling, humidiﬁcation and dehumidiﬁcation unit for animal housing systems. Provides humidity control with unrivalled accuracy, promoting better breeding performance, animal welfare, increased validity of research and improved ﬂexibility. In addition humidiﬁcation cost can be reduced by up to 80%.Scantainer – if draught inside IVC cages is a concern, when housing e.g. pups or nude mice, Scantainer is a great alternative. Also, considering that rodents are social animals, if more rodents should be allowed to smell or hear each other, a Scantainer could be a preferred housing solution. A very ﬂexible housing system. Can hold many different cages sizes allowing for housing of rodents to be applied for many different types of studies.Animal Welfare | Allergen/Disease Control | Ergonomics | Green Solutionsjow@scanbur.com www.scanbur.com +44 (0) 7923 320 519Scionics Computer Innovation GmbHScionics has provided computer solutions for scientists for 20 years and is the maker of the PyRAT line of animal facility software products. PyRAT is used for the storage, sharing, and management of animal facility data and increases facility efﬁciency, work ﬂow, and governmental compliance. The PyRAT Transgenic edition includes additional functionality tailored to the needs of transgenic facilities, tracking sperm, embryos, and oocytes, their genetic modiﬁcations, and the life history of the resulting animals. PyRAT Aquatic makes

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition93managing your ﬁsh colonies easier than ever, saving you both time and money.Development for all products is done in close collaboration with our clients and is governed by our ISO9001:2015 certiﬁed Quality Management System (QMS).The web interface is easy to learn and accessible from any device (computer, tablet, smart phone) with a web browser. Data can be stored on-site or in the cloud.Accessible in several languages, our PyRAT products are used worldwide by clients with a diverse set of regulatory requirements. Customization of our PyRAT products is also available. Please contact us for a demonstration.A list of PyRAT’s features include but are not limited to:lfull history tracking llocation management including graphical rack displaylcage card, cage label printinglbreeding management lanimal and line/strain pedigreeslexpanded line/strain management including line/strain severity assessmentlimporting genotyping results lauthorisation tracking and reportinglanimal orderinglwork request management lreal-time reporting including alerts systemlbudgeting and invoices luser management including Active Directory / LDAP integrationltraining recordslSOP managementldocument uploadslconﬁgurable views and advanced ﬁltersThe PyRAT Transgenic edition has all of the features of PyRAT but also includes: la cryopreservation database for sperm and embryos with a detailed representation of tanks lcomplete embryo cell tracking system, from isolation and preservation, to thawing,lfertilisation, transfer, and transgenic offspring lcomplete sperm cell tracking, allowing the import, isolation, freezing, and revitalizing of sperm lcolony statistics that enable line and stock management at a glance luser-conﬁgurable views (embryos, animals, transfers) and advanced ﬁlters to support your workﬂows

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition94ltransgenic features seamlessly integrated with PyRAT PyRAT Aquatic borrows the easy-to-use interface of PyRAT but with new logic and reports for tank based operations. Some of its features include:lfull history tracking llocation management including graphical rack displaylcrossing managementltank label printinglcage level managementlauthorisation tracking and reportinglwork request management lreal-time information on stockslaverage mortality rate and related reportsluser management including Active Directory / LDAP integrationltraining recordslconﬁgurable views and advanced ﬁltersContact us for a free demo.products@scionics.com https://www.scionics.com/ +49 351 202 707 00Surrey Diagnostics LtdHEALTH MONITORING (Microbiology, Serology, PCR, Parasitology, Necropsy and Histology)SDL understands the importance of developing and maintaining a robust health monitoring programme for laboratory animals and recognise that it is a fundamental part of successful research.Our aim is to give customers the best, scientiﬁcally accurate Health Monitoring Service on the market at a fair price. We use the latest appropriate and proven technologies, such as bead based SEROLOGY and REAL-TIME PCR and Microbiological Culture to achieve this.SDL offer Combined Health Monitoring (CHM) using destructive and non-destructive methods where fewer animals are used, but conﬁdence in results is maintained.ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING (Allergens, Microbiology, Particulates)SDL’s ENVIROSCREEN is a full environmental monitoring service including surfaces, air, water, consumables and Laboratory Animal Allergen (LAA) monitoring.

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition95DECONTAMINATION VALIDATION - Biological Indicator analysis service to validate fumigation/VHP/steam sterilisation processes.AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT through technology PROVEN to reduce Laboratory Animal Allergens (LAAs), odours, micro-organisms, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and any airborne pathogens in an indoor environment. Please call Mark on +44 (0) 1483 266533 or email marks@sdlab.co.uk for further information.Surrey Diagnostics Ltd is an ISO9001:2015 accredited companyandy@sdlab.co.uk or alistair@sdlab.co.uk www.sdl.uk.net +44 (0) 1483 268300 / +44 (0) 787 053 4617 / +44 (0) 7778 010184SychemFounded in 1982, Sychem is a leading provider for disinfection, sterilisation, and decontamination solutions. Operating predominantly within life sciences, healthcare settings and laboratories, Sychem provides a true variety of capital equipment, vapour-phase hydrogen peroxide solutions, infection control consumables, disinfection chemicals and customisable servicing packages to ﬁt your facilities requirements.Sychem Airﬂow Range NEW - Sychem provides a comprehensive range of animal care solutions, services, and consumables to support and assist research facilities in providing the best conditions possible for all animals within their care. Innovation is at the heart of everything Sychem do and 2020 marked the arrival of the all-new Sychem Airﬂow Range. Three unique work stations, all designed to help and assist research facilities in maximising animal welfare, protect animal technicians and advance biomedical research.SychemCHANGE NEW - SychemCHANGE is a dual access station designed to protect your animals during cage changing and minor procedures. You are further protecting your users from exposure to Laboratory Animal Allergens (LAAs) through Sychem’s Active Airﬂow Technology.lunrivalled height adjustmentlmulti conﬁguration work surfacelred light modeSychemWASTE NEW – the stand-alone waste disposal unit protects the user against LAAs. Sychem’s Active Airﬂow Technology enhances protection for users, even when replacing waste bags. Standard features include a single chute and tabletop, providing a spacious working area.lunrivalled cleanabilitylthree stage ﬁltrationldouble chute option

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition96SychemFILL is a clean bedding dispensing system, providing the ideal solution for modernising your cage change process. The design features various easily adjustable programs, ensuring that you can ﬁll any rodent cage on the market.lclass-leading accuracy (+/- 4%)lintuitive user interfacelcompatible with all free ﬂowing beddingSteelco S.p.A – Sychem has worked together with Steelco since 2008 to support facilities across the UK. They are a leading Italian manufacturer of equipment and systems for washing, disinfection, sterilisation, and decontamination. Steelco provides medical instrument and ultrasonic washers, glassware washers and steam sterilisers, and a range of cage and bottle washing and automated systems. Together we support hospitals, research facilities and laboratories.Service and Testing – Sychem provides a comprehensive range of servicing solutions which range from validation, testing, PPM packages, breakdown support and cloud-based asset management software, SychemEye, all to enable facilities to minimise the risks of contamination on-site and keep staff and visitors safe.Infection Control Consumables – Sychem is the exclusive partner for Terragene in the UK providing a range of consumables for use in life sciences. These range from rapid-readout biological indicators and process challenge devices for validating sterilisation cycles.Hand Sanitisers & Disinfectants – At Sychem, we work with some of the most prestigious healthcare and research facilities in the UK, supplying them with our range of hand sanitisers and surface cleaner disinfectants. Our products enable effective and prolonged antimicrobial protection against harmful bacteria and viruses minimising the risk of infection posed to staff, public and visitors.hello@sychem.co.uk https://www.sychem.co.uk/ +44 (0) 845 644 6824Tecniplast UKSince our inception in 1949, Tecniplast has been building its global reputation for creating the best designed, best built, highest quality animal housing and washing solutions. At Tecniplast, our primary objective is simple: to keep your animals safely cared for, reliably and economically.Tecniplast have been at the heart of creating innovative solutions for over 70 years. We have an acute awareness of the continuous evolution of biomedical facilities and are proud to have the capability to design and develop products in-house.

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition97We are able to offer a wide range of integrated solutions for your lab animal facility, here are details of just some of the Tecniplast/IWT product range on offer:lthe world leading range of IVC systems, including the latest jewel in our crown: Emerald Linel washing, disinfection and logistics equipment including bottle washers and ﬁllers, rack washers, cabinet washers and decontamination locksllaminar airﬂow technology including: cage changing stations, bio safety stations, downﬂow booths, bedding disposal systems and air showerslconventional caging for all laboratory specieslautomation: from partial to fully automated robotic systems to assist with ergonomics, standardisation of process and throughputldigitally ventilated caging (DVC), the latest home cage data capture technologylbiocontainment and bio-exclusion caginginfo@tecniplastuk.com www.tecniplastuk.com +44 (0) 345 050 4556TPS/GruenbergGruenberg Steri-Dry - Dry Heat Lab Animal Science SterilisersGruenberg’s Steri-Dry™ sterilisers use dry heat instead of steam to sterilise laboratory animal cages and other lab equipment in research and laboratory settings. Not only is dry heat sterilization most effective, but it is lower in both cost and energy consumption. Our wide variety of dry heat Steri-Dry™ sterilisers are available custom designed and built in any size and are designed in modules for ease of installation.Dry heat sterilisers require no pit, no drain, no water, no steam and are light enough that they typically do not require structural reinforcement of the building to hold their weight. Since they do not utilise a pressure vessel, there is no need for annual pressure testing. Maintenance is minimal – even after many years of use, our typical customer requires no unscheduled or emergency maintenance.bdavis@process-info.com http://www.steri-dry.com +1 5083414363

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TRADE EXHIBITIONTrade Exhibition98TransnetyxOur Transnetyx suite of services allows labs and facilities to focus on efﬁciently and responsibly progressing their research while effectively saving valuable time and resources.Transnetyx Automated Genotyping service eliminates human error and accelerates research through our fast, easy and accurate approach. Since 2000, Transnetyx has genotyped more than 25 million samples with 99.97% accuracy. We have built an inventory of more than 35,000 assays which includes more than 15,000 MGI and JAX lines.IAT 2021 Virtual Congress exclusive - 50 FREE Genotyping Sample offer for all new customers, register at www.transnetyx.com.Transnetyx Genetic Monitoring services help you characterise the background of your mouse strains and/or reach full congenic strain status, supporting your marker assisted breeding program. Supporting the reproducibility of your research with our in-depth MiniMUGA panel, including 10,000 SNP’s across 241 strains at a cost of only $40 USD per/sample.Transnetyx Microbiome service supports researchers and LAS in the characterization of the Microbiome to ensure research reproducibility. Enabling monitoring of shifts in the gut microbiome, utilizing gold-standard interactive bioinformatics, deep insights from shotgun sequencing, easy sample shipping and all at a cost of only $150 USD per/sample. 50% Discount on ﬁrst 10 samples.dporteous@transnetyx.com help@transnetyx.com https://www.transnetyx.com/ +1 888 321 2113Vet-Tech Solutions LtdThe “Go to“ and only company to manufacture, supply, service and repair all types of equipment from our own premises. We custom-build anaesthesia and surgery equipment, euthanasia systems, heating and down ﬂow equipment, supply a wide range of biomedical research equipment and consumables. Specialists in manufacturing items made in stainless steel, acylics, perspex, polycarbonate and trespa, we can assist with design options and bespoke solutions. Innovators of the ﬁrst home cage euthanasia system built to include either a pre anaesthetic cycle or CO2 only and smaller Pre Set CO2 Systems which can be used with either chambers or home-cage lids.lheated bench top system NEW l3Rs CurVet™ Rat and Mimicky Mouse™ Training Aids lDycem decontamination ﬂooring system lEthicon sutures lPPE+44 (0) 1260 274333 info@vet-tech.co.uk https://www.vet-tech.co.uk/

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a-tune software AG Water BottlesEnvigo PensIPS Product Supplies LtdNotebooks and BagsScionics MugsAnd thanks also goes to Hartelust bv who kindly sponsored the wine planned for the Gala Dinner. AST2020 SPONSORSThe AST2020 Conference Committee is immensely grateful to the companies who had sponsored delegate giveaways. Needless to say, all of these branded items will not go to waste as they will be ‘saved’ for the next face-to-face IAT Congress and LASA Winter Conference.Hartelust B.V.Phone: +31 13 4555189Email: info@hartelust.netWe proudly present our company as an important provider of non human primates for research only.Our animals are selected, monitored and shipped out right from the source, prior to our quarantine facilities in the Netherlands.From there they can be shipped to any destination worldwide. We have all permits to meet the regulations in the EU regarding quarantine and transport.Please feel free to contact us for your requirements and we will make a suitable offer to meet your protocol and individual wishes.Hartelust B.V.Phone: +31 13 4555189Email: info@hartelust.netWe proudly present our company as an important provider of non human primates for research only.Our animals are selected, monitored and shipped out right from the source, prior to our quarantine facilities in the Netherlands.From there they can be shipped to any destination worldwide. We have all permits to meet the regulations in the EU regarding quarantine and transport.Please feel free to contact us for your requirements and we will make a suitable offer to meet your protocol and individual wishes.