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Institute of Animal Technology Bulletin W is hing you all a Ve ry H appy C hri stm a s Vol Vol55 49 No No 12 11 November December 2013 2019
Bulletin Vol 55 No 12 December 2019 EDITOR Carole Wilson bulletineditor iat org uk ASSISTANT EDITOR Karen Dunford bulletinassistant iat org uk ADVERTISEMENT MANAGERS PRC Associates Ltd mail prcassoc co uk Published monthly by the Institute of Animal Technology Registered Office 5 South Parade Summertown Oxford OX2 7JL ISSN 0263 2861 For enquiries other than Bulletin related contact IAT ADMINISTRATOR admin iat org uk or 0800 085 4380 Final copy date for February Bulletin 1st January The opinions expressed in the Bulletin do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or the Institute CONTENTS Dear Readers NC3Rs IAT Technicians Meeting 5 7 12 IAT AS ET 2020 Ball 13 AST2020 Call for Posters 16 Notice of 2020 AGM 17 AS ET News 19 21 The Gallery 22 29 West Middlesex Branch Symposium 30 31 Branch News 33 35 Diary Dates 39
Bulletin December 2019 De ar Re aders Merry Christmas and Happy New Year I hope you all have a fabulous time over the holidays Of course I know that many of you will also have to work such is the nature of our industry I hope you all like the festive front cover that is power of Photoshop This is to illustrate a special two part Gallery article about biodiversity in Costa Rica a couple of us have been on holiday there and there are too many animal inspired photo calls to miss I thought I would share them with you all at this festive time See pages 22 29 Elsewhere we a report on the NC3Rs IAT symposium written by Linda Horan the new Chair of Council I think a good time was had by all a truly information packed day and lots of really good posters See pages 7 12 There is also a write up of the AS ET Annual Lecture in London this year given by Dame Frances Ashcroft about her work on diabetes Unfortunately I was away at the time and had to miss this but it sounds really interesting and I wish I had been able to go See pages 19 21 If they are the ghosts of a meetings past then the West Middlesex Branch advertising their annual technician symposium is surely the ghost of meetings future Dickens A Christmas Carol one of my favourites This is the West Middlesex Technicians ninth symposium I cannot believe it how time speeds by See pages 30 31 Once again I hope everyone finds some time to enjoy themselves and have some downtime over the holidays and I will be back in 2020 Happy Reading Carole 5
Bulletin December 2019 7 NC3Rs IAT Technicians meeting London 2nd October 2019 I was delighted to be asked to chair this joint meeting held on the 2nd October in London which has become an annual event with the NC3Rs putting together the programme for the day and the IAT supporting the networking reception at the end of the meeting The day consisted of presentations posters and networking opportunities aimed primarily at junior animal technicians however there was a lot of information for NACWOs and facility managers as well It was a really varied programme of speakers from academia to industry with talks ranging from tickling rats in order to improve their welfare to the importance of randomisation and blinding and how the animal technicians can help in this area at the beginning of a study The day begins Dr Lynne Sneddon University of Liverpool started the day with a presentation entitled Refinements in zebrafish research improving welfare through behavioural assessment and enrichment As we are all aware zebrafish use is on the rise and their welfare is as important as any other species Studies have proved that zebrafish will choose a more enriched environment if given
8 December 2019 Bulletin the choice and that fish offered enrichment have enhanced brain development Zebrafish also have the ability to feel pain and this is manifested by reduced activity and spending more time at the bottom of the tank Further research has shown that pain can be reduced by the use of the appropriate analgesics Following Lynne Dr Johnny Roughan Newcastle University gave a talk on Perceived barriers to implementation and misconceptions about tunnel handling results of a recent survey Johnny explained that it has been over 10 years since the research was released showing evidence that non aversive handling NAH such as tunnel handling and cupping can reduce anxiety in mice The most commonly perceived barriers to implementation of NAH have to do with the practicalities for example a belief that they are slower than picking up by the tail but also potential scientific impact as some researchers are concerned that changing the handling method might impact experimental continuity A recent study that Johnny conducted showed that the welfare benefits of tunnel handling are widely applicable and are not diminished by other common stressful procedures which has been one argument against the implementation of NAHs There were 16 posters on display and just before lunch 13 of the poster authors each gave us a two minute insight into the work behind their poster They all did a great job and were then available over lunch to answer more questions The next speaker Ms Marie Eriksson Research Institutes of Sweden RISE presented her work on Handling and training techniques for less stressed laboratory rodents Marie showed a lot of videos of how they undertake procedural work at RISE and we were treated to videos of rats clambering to get out of the cage into the transport cage to be taken for dosing or injection with no lids were required A lot of pre training and clicker training positive reinforcement had been undertaken but it was amazing to see what could be achieved with some time investment There was a queue of technicians asking if there were any vacancies at the end of the presentation it was truly inspirational Dr Sarah Knowles University of Oxford talked about her project on Reduction and refinement in research on wild small mammals which is funded by the NC3Rs and aims to design a new SMART trap and a RFID logger in order to overcome limitations of the current trapping system of small mammals and improve welfare Initial results were very good with the ability to collect much more data compared to previous methods and be able to release animals from the trap that were of no interest to the study
Bulletin December 2019 9 Poster viewing
10 December 2019 Bulletin Dr Esther Pearl NC3Rs talked about The importance of randomisation and blinding in animal experiments As Esther explained randomisation means that all animals have an equal chance of being assigned to each group and blinding is not being aware of which groups animals are in throughout the experiment Recent studies have highlighted that results from animal experiments are often not as reliable as they should be due to the inadvertent introduction of bias in the absence of randomisation and blinding Animal technicians can be invaluable when it comes to randomisation and blinding in animals studies as both processes should be done by a third party Importantly as technicians are aware of working practices they can identify when bias might be introduced Dr Helen Gray University of Leeds gave a presentation entitled Artificial intelligence to improve animal welfare Helen had been involved in a project on artificial intelligence to improve animal welfare specifically for commercially farmed pigs using low cost 2 D cameras and a custom built algorithm Data collected from this study could provide measures of normal movement patterns which will ultimately allow an early detection system for welfare issues in the animals Dr Virginia Pensabene University of Leeds talked about An engineering approach to improve in vitro culture of murine embryos The newly designed microfluidic device which was developed as a result of this NC3Rsfunded CRACK IT project has successfully maximized blastocyte rates and improved birth rates The last speaker of the day was Ms Megan LaFollette Purdue University who presented on Tickling rats for better welfare practical applications of heterospecific play Routine handling of laboratory rats can result in unintended negative outcomes such as increased fear and stress Heterospecific rough and tumble play or the rat tickling method was originally developed by Dr Jaak Panksepp a neuroscientist and pioneer of research into animal emotions Tickling has been shown to be an effective means of generating a positive affect a positive mental state in rats Rats when tickled produce vocalisations at 50 kHz a range repeatedly shown to be associated with positive welfare contrary to conventional handling which can leads to vocalisations at 25 kHz associated with a negative affect Megan s more recent work published in PLOS One examines the current evidence and evaluates the benefits applications and challenges of the
Bulletin December 2019 Allan Thornhill mans the IAT stand 11
12 December 2019 Bulletin technique This tickling mimics aspects of rat rough and tumble play and can be used to reduce stress and increase positive feelings in the rat Megan and her colleagues recently released an online mini course on how to apply this method properly bit ly RatTicklingCertificate They would love for you to get involved so they can collect as much data on the course as possible Just before the meeting closed Dr Mark Prescott Director of Policy and Outreach at the NC3Rs presented the poster prizes Two highly commended awards were made to Tom Leivers from the University of Nottingham and Joe Warmsley from University College London for their work on non aversive mouse handling implementation and ways to improve zebrafish husbandry respectively The winner was Nicola Cook from Fera Science for her work on introducing refinements and changes in husbandry in order to minimise aggression and improve animal welfare in CAX mice Nicola impressed the judges with the comprehensive and successful approach to tackling the aggression problem and the overall clarity of the poster Well done to everyone who displayed and presented their posters This was a really great way to share your good work It remained for me to close the meeting and extend a huge THANK YOU to all our excellent speakers for an engaging and informative day to the NC3Rs for their exceptional organisation of the event and then to invite everyone to joint us for some refreshments and a networking reception If you get the chance to attend next year I highly recommend it Linda Horan
Bulletin December 2019 NOTICE of IAT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2020 The thirty fourth Annual General Meeting of the Institute of Animal Technology will be held at AST2020 on Tuesday 24th March at 13 30 hrs AGENDA 1 To consider the minutes of the thirty third Annual General Meeting held on Tuesday 9th April 2019 as published in full on the Members section of the IAT website and in abridged form in the Bulletin Vol 55 No 6 2 To receive and consider the Company s annual accounts for the year ended 31st December 2019 together with the Annual Report and the Auditors Report 3 To appoint Auditors of the Institute 4 To review the Council s objectives for 2019 5 To elect members of the Council who are proposed for re election by rotation under the terms of the Articles of Association and any such new members to fill existing vacancies 6 To elect a President and Vice Presidents for the ensuing year 7 To consider the election of Life and Honorary Members of the Institute 8 Any other business Dated December 2019 Linda Horan CEO Chair of Council Simon Cumming Honorary Secretary THE AGM IS OPEN TO ALL DELEGATES Voting Rights are restricted to IAT voting members only 17
Bulletin December 2019 19 Patron Professor Lord Naren Patel KT Chair of Trustees Professor Sir Richard Gardner FIAT Hon FRS Secretary to the Trust Ken Applebee OBE FIAT FRSB Trustees Stephen Barnett MSc Hon FRSB Jasmine Barley MSc FIAT Karen J Gardner Wendy Steel BSc Hons FIAT Registered Charity Number 113319 Registered Office 5 South Parade Summertown Oxford OX2 7JL AS ET Annual Lecture in London Sweetness and Light studying the molecular basis of diabetes Professor Dame Frances Ashcroft FRS If you were not one of the 40 people at the AS ET Annual Lecture in London you missed an excellent presentation Dame Francis Ashcroft FRS described the advances she and her collaborators have made in the study of type 2 diabetes and the less common neonatal diabetes Her passion for research was evident especially when she described the first time her experiments showed insulin release was inhibited by a malfunction in the ion channels in the membrane of the pancreatic beta cells She was alone in her laboratory in the early hours of the morning and there was no one around to share her excitement with so she telephoned friends to tell them but they were not as excited as she was because her call woke them in the middle of the night Neonatal diabetes is uncommon but is devastating for the children who have it It was thought to be similar to type 1 diabetes and therefore needed to be controlled by regular injections of insulin This was traumatic to both children and the parents who had to carry out the injections In addition insulin injections given to children causes neurological damage effecting their locomotion and cognitive abilities Frances work with Andrew Hattersley showed that neonatal diabetes was more like type 2 than type 1 and could be controlled by oral administration of drugs stopping the trauma and neurological damage The oral treatment even resulted in a partial reversal of the harmful effects already caused by insulin injections This lecture chaired by AS ET Chair of Trustees Professor Sir Richard Gardner FRS was the fifth we have organised all given by leading world scientists All of them have been excellent presentations pitched at a level that everybody can
20 December 2019 Bulletin understand and audience feedback has been very complimentary Watch for next year s lecture to make sure you don t miss it We are grateful to the sponsors of this event without whose help we would not be able to run it Frances was due to repeat her lecture in Manchester where Graham Morrisey had organised the event for us and the IAT North West Branch had offered to sponsor the lecture but unfortunately she was taken ill and was unable to make her presentation Dame Frances Ashcroft with Sir Richard Gardner Audience members at the post lecture reception
AS ET is aBulletin charity set up to advance education and promote May 2014 excelle 15 the care Bulletin and welfare of animals used in science December 2019 21 To see how you can apply for a bursary visit our website www as et T is is a charity setset upup toto advance education and promote excellence in ET a charity advance education and promote excellence The companies listed below sponsor AS ET If you would like to join care and welfare ofof animals used in in science e care and welfare animals used science find out how to support us by looking at our website ee how you can apply forfor bursary visit our website www as et org u AS ET is ayou charity set up toa advance education and promote excellence in see how can apply a bursary visit our website www as et org set up to advance education andpromote promote excellence in AS ET charityset set up toadvance advance education excellence theAS ET care isand welfare ofup animals usededucation in science AS ET isisaaacharity charity to and excellence in in the of animals used science thecare careand andwelfare welfare ofanimals animalsused used inscience science the care and welfare of inin companies listed below sponsor AS ET If you would like to join them e companies listed If and youexcellence would excellence like join AS ETisisa acharity charitytobelow set up tosponsor advance AS ET education promote in the AS ET advance education and promote in theto care To see how you can apply for a bursary visit our website www as et org uk out how to support us by looking at our website the careto and welfare of animals used inatscience d out how support us by ourour website and welfare of animals used in looking science see howyou you canapply apply for bursary visit our www as et org uk ToTo see how can for aa bursary visit website www as et org uk To see how you can apply for a bursary visit our website www as et org uk TheSponsors companies listed below sponsor If you would like to join them To see how you can for a bursary visit website www as et org uk of AS ET areapply listed below and AS ET to find our out more please visitto the to join Thecompanies companies listed below sponsor AS ET Ifyou you join them The listed below sponsor AS ET If you would like them The companies listed below sponsor AS ET If would like to join them findwebsite out how to support us by looking at our website www as et org uk find out howto tosupport support usby by looking atour our website find how support us by looking our website find out how us looking atat Theout companies listed below sponsor AS ET If website you would like to join them find out how to support us by looking at our website
22 December 2019 Bulletin The Gallery Biodiversity in Costa Rica Costa Rica is known for its biodiversity as a small central American country it contains approximately 6 of all the world s known species It has 112 volcanoes 5 of which are active 12 microclimates including beaches and mountains cool weather forest and water falls It also has two different oceans the Pacific and the Caribbean There are 900 plus bird species more than 250 mammalian species over 1200 butterfly and moth species a further 493 000 other invertebrates including crabs and spiders and 225 reptile species including two types of crocodile and around 175 amphibian species Here are a selection of the sights and favours of Costa Rica a destination I highly recommend Micro climates Volcanoes ham Image A Gra Lush grassland with mountains
Bulletin Waterfalls December 2019 Image Ian Treves 23
24 December 2019 Bulletin Birds Macraws Images A Graham Black vulture at the beach
Bulletin December 2019 Oriole Woodpecker Kestrel A range of birds 25
26 December 2019 Bulletin Mammals Coati Images A Graham
Bulletin Peccary December 2019 Image A Graham Three toed sloth and baby Capuchin Image I Treves Image I Treves 27
28 December 2019 Bulletin Insects Golden Orb Spider Image I Treves Zebra longwing butterfly Ant Images A Graham
Bulletin December 2019 Reptiles Otenosaur Eyelash viper Image I Treves Image A Graham 29
Bulletin December 2019 33 The North East Branch Christmas Party T he North East Branch Christmas Party This year we held our party at SnoZone in Castleford on the 15th November never too early to get into the Christmas spirit We had a fun filled hour of Wacky Races sledging followed by food and a catch up with friends and colleagues Sledging racing getting snow covered and watching co workers fall over repeatedly The event was great fun and well attended around 20 attendees from various establishments and trade from the North East area After drying off we met in Frankie and Benny s for some very much needed dinner The food had been kindly sponsored by Agenda Allentown Aston Pharma Datesand Envigo Scanbur and Tecniplast What a fantastic way to close off the year One of our best events yet with more to come in 2020 At the North East Branch we welcome all who would like to get involved and attend events with a great bunch of people From all of us at the North East Branch we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Reporter Ryan Hill
34 December 2019 Bulletin Sledding in the Wacky Races
December 2019 35 Getting ready to go Bulletin
Bulletin December 2019 39 DIARY Dates 13 17 January Statistics and Experimental Design Dublin Details http eslav eclam org education eslav eclam winter school onsystematic reviews statistics andexperimental design 13th to 17thof january 2020 21 22 January NACWO Workshop Newcastle Details info learningcurvedevelopment co uk 29 January Train the Trainer Cambridge Details https www ubs admin cam ac uk training centre cpd courses traintrainer course 25 February Nominated Assessors Course Cambridge Details https www ubs admin cam ac uk training centre cpd courses nominated assessors course 23 March RSPCA meeting Focus on Fish Edinburgh Details https science rspca org uk science group researchanimals meetings 24 26 March AST 2020 Edinburgh Details https www ast2020 org 18 February West Middlesex Branch 9th Annual Technician Symposium Details page 30 31 Front cover White faced monkey Photo Ian Treves Photoshop Paul Barwood