Jan Langermans appointed chair of Laboratory Animal Welfare
Utrecht University has named BPRC's Jan Langermans Professor by Special Appointment of Laboratory Animal Welfare, a newly created chair within the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine's Department of Animals, Science and Society. Langermans will continue to work at BPRC, spending one day a week at Utrecht as from 1 November 2018 to ‘expand and share’ his vision on the welfare of laboratory animals.
'A human, a mouse, a primate – each is more than the sum of its parts', emphasises Professor Clevers, a doctor and geneticist who teaches at Utrecht University, in a recent episode of Focus. 'In the end, you have to prove that your discovery also holds for the body as a whole.'
Titled 'Mouse saves lives', the episode of public broadcaster NRT's science programme zoomed in on the societal debate over whether animal testing is essential or excessive.
BPRC has an excellent reputation when it comes to knowledge, colony management, and accommodating and looking after its animals. We apply sophisticated methods so as to minimise the discomfort experienced by the animals to the maximum extent possible, and we have a transparent policy with regard to animal welfare. On that basis, we are happy to tell you more about our annual animal health checks, executed under the supervision of our four vets.
Monkeys love jumping around, playing, swinging and relaxing. They display this natural behaviour in any living environment. This means it is crucial to enrich their surroundings with playthings such as balls, slides and fire hoses. In some cases, those fire hoses can be extremely large.
‘Look how big those reels are’, exclaims animal keeper Marit as she shows us the photos taken on the day of delivery. ‘My muscles were sore for three days just from rolling the hoses off,’ she laughs.
In response to the undercover video from the BPRC, member of Parliament Wassenberg from the Party for the Animals has asked questions. Minister van Engelshoven (Minister of Education, Culture and Science) has answered these questions, also on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (responsible for the use of animals for scientific purposes). You can read these questions and answers (in Dutch only) by following this link.
The BPRC Alternative Methods Unit often works with culture systems for certain types of brain cells known as microglia. We grow these cells using brain matter from dead animals. In this way, we are able to chart the so-called immunological reactions in the brain. It is important to note here that no animals are ‘sacrificed’ to obtain the tissue that we use, which is purely residual material.
'Tuberculosis is a disaster happening every day without being noticed, because nothing really changes. It's as bad today as it is tomorrow. So any vaccine that will have an effect against developing open lung TB in adults, or even against TB infection in people that have not yet developed TB disease or infection, can be a game changer.'
Researchers at BPRC studying differences among marmosets fed different diets have shown that dietary changes affect MS-like symptoms in common marmosets.
Common marmosets are similar in many ways to humans, one being that they have a comparable immune system. This makes them a suitable animal model in the search for therapies for serious immunological diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS).
Infectious disease in top 10 of all mortality causes worldwide
21 September was World Alzheimer's Day. In that same week news was announced about blood tests for Alzheimer's that would be available within the next one or two years. “I have two things to say about that”, says Ingrid Philippens, a researcher of neurodegenerative disorders (Parkinson's and Alzheimer's).
Before discussing the latest developments, we should have a brief look at the bigger picture. What is the status of Alzheimer's research in 2018? What do we know, and what don't we know yet?
