News
FIN3R WEBINAR: SEPTEMBER 10, 2024
Topic: “Refining Rodent Oral Administration Protocols: Exploring Advantages, Limitations, and Recent Developments”
By: Dr. Paulin Jirkof (University of Zurich).
Date: September 10, 2024, Helsinki 2 PM EEST
ABSTRACT:
In drug development, a focus on oral formulations aligns with human treatment practices. Preclinical assessments demand crucial oral testing of compounds, often carried out through oral gavage in mice and rats. However, this widely used method lacks accuracy in replicating voluntary substance intake of humans, posing risks of injury and stress to laboratory rodents. This presentation scrutinizes the pros and cons of oral gavage and explores alternative approaches, including uncontrolled oral intake (e.g., via drinking water), and refined, controlled voluntary ingestion protocols. The Micropipette-Guided Drug Administration (MDA) method, employing palatable solutions like sweetened condensed milk diluted with water, will be introduced. The talk will evaluate evidence on the suitability of these alternative methods for administering various experimental substances, such as analgesics, tamoxifen or others, while prioritizing animal welfare.
SPEAKER: PD Dr. Paulin Jirkof, Office for Animal Welfare and 3R, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Paulin Jirkof earned her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and holds a Master of Advanced Studies in Management, Technology, and Economics from ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Her research focuses on refinement measures for laboratory rodents, with a particular emphasis on assessing and improving animal welfare. Currently serving as the 3R coordinator in the Office for Animal Welfare and 3R at the University of Zurich, Paulin also assumes the role of Chair on the executive board of the Swiss 3R Competence Center. Additionally, she is a board member of the Swiss Society for Laboratory Animal Science and serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Laboratory Animals.
Register in advance for this meeting: https://helsinki.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Epd-CspzIuHdVjIkhXmF67VGhEB_0FCXg3
Registration for this webinar is required (**This webinar will be locked when the meeting room limit (300) is reached**). After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. During the webinar, please keep your cameras off and your microphones muted. After the main talk, we have time for discussion where you can participate with your face and voice!
FIN3R WEBINAR: OCTOBER 8TH, 2024
Registration is open for the Fin3R webinar “French Centre for the 3Rs: implementing the 3Rs, promoting of open science and improving the quality of Research” which will be presented by Dr. Athanassia Sotiropoulos (FC3R, France).
Date: October 8, 2024, 14h (EEST)
ABSTRACT:
In 2021, the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research and leading French public research organisations created the French Centre for 3Rs (FC3R). The primary objective of the FC3R is to promote and implement the Replacement, Reduction and Refinement principles in animal experimentation throughout France. This objective is pursued by promoting responsible and innovative research, funding research projects, providing comprehensive training, ensuring transparent communication, and supporting researchers in their experimental design.
To help researchers with their experimental design and to share their unpublished results, FC3R has created a dedicated platform, the FC3R Short Notes. This platform encourages Open Science, promotes robustness in research and minimises redundancy. Eligible studies include original research or replications with any type of positive, negative, or inconclusive results. FC3R Short Notes are concise (limited to two figures and 2,000 words) and are assigned a DOI after evaluation and validation by the FC3R Scientific Committee and external reviewers. The evaluation criteria focus on experimental design, treatment of results and statistical analyses rather than perceived significance and impact. FC3R Short Notes are not limited to animal experiments and include in vitro and in silico studies that promote the 3Rs in research. The Short Notes platform has an international scope and is hosted on the HAL open science portal. The publications are easy to find, well referenced by search engines and linked to other services such as ORCID and possibly pre-registration platforms.
SPEAKER: Athanassia Sotiropoulos, PhD, director of the French 3R center (FC3R)
Athanassia Sotiropoulos has a PhD in cellular and molecular biology and is a research director at Inserm. Together with Pascal Maire, she heads the "Neuromuscular Development, Genetics and Physiopathology" team at the Institut Cochin. Her scientific work has focused mainly on cellular and transcriptional signalling and on understanding the plasticity of adult skeletal muscle. Since December 2021, she has headed the GIS FC3R, the French reference center for all questions related to the ethical principle of the 3Rs (Replace, Reduce, Refine).
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://helsinki.zoom.us/meeting/register/u50kduugrTMqHtbXR7g75flcRl5NC8hGr9fH
Registration for this webinar is required (**This webinar will be locked when the meeting room limit (300) is reached**). After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. During the webinar, please keep your cameras off and your microphones muted. After the main talk, we have time for discussion where you can participate with your face and voice!
FINNISH 3R ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM: NOVEMBER 4-6, 2024
FIN3R Center is proud to invite you to the Finnish 3Rs Annual Symposium!
This year, we will meet at the University of Oulu, from November 4th to November 6th, 2024. We have prepared two workshops and more then 10 talks by top experts in the field for the three-day event. For more information about the topics and sessions, have a look at the program below!
Recordings of the talks will be provided for all the registered participants who are unable to attend the event on-site. Please note that the material will be available only after the lectures and there will be no live streaming.
Participants are welcome to present their work through posters and oral presentations. In order to do so, please submit your abstract here by 30 September! Doctoral students are eligible to receive 0.5 ECTS points for the poster and 1 ECTS for the oral presentation. Students with both oral and poster presentations are eligible for 1.5 ECTS.
For researchers and personnel working with laboratory animals, attending the Symposium can be regarded as part of the statutory maintenance of professional competence. For that, you will receive a certificate of attendance.
Registration for the Symposium is open until 1 November 2024. To register, click here.
For more information about the workshops, check the descriptions below. Please note that the registration for the workshops and the Symposium attendance is done in separate sheets.
Registration for the Power Analysis Workshop is open until 18 October 2024. To register, click here.
Registration for the Experimental Design Workshop is open until 18 October 2024. To register, click here.
Note: Places for the workshops are limited. Each workshop can accommodate 16-20 participants. Reserve your space in advance!
For additional information and questions, please contact Reetta Hinttala at reetta.hinttala@oulu.fi.
Organizing committee: Reetta Hinttala, Mikko Airavaara, Johanna Englund, Anne Heikkinen, Satu Kuure, Sakari Laaksonen, Vootele Voikar and Hanna-Marja Voipio.
Symposium is organized by the Finnish 3R Center, University of Oulu Graduate School, Animal Welfare Body of Oulu Laboratory Animal Centre, and FibrObesity Profiling Theme.
Join our mailing list!
We are happy to invite you to join our new mailing list! Here, we will distribute the information related to the FIN3R activities, as well as a bi-yearly newsletter.
Please note that the list is administered by Tampere University, and your data will be safely stored. Also, note that any member of the mailing list can distribute messages with the admin's approval. However, only the administrator of the list can see the contact information of the people who have subscribed.
Subscription: FIN3RC mailing list