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Research published in Scientific Reports describes a new ultra lightweight system for recording neural activity in the brains of mice.

MouseAGE is opening a call for European researchers to establish their infrastructure needs in the area of ageing and age-related disorders at the preclinical stage with a view to coordinate efforts for applications for funding.

The MRC ethics series document ‘Good research practice: principles and guidelines’ sets out the MRC’s expectations for MRC research units and institutes, MRC university units, MRC centres and MRC grant holders in the form of principles, guidelines and standards to foster good research practice in all MRC-funded research.

The use of animals in research, teaching and testing is an important ethical and political issue. Much of the discussion about this issue revolves around the relative value, often referred to as 'moral value', of humans and animals.

The Medicines Evaluation Board assesses and monitors the efficacy, risks and quality of human and veterinary medicines, and the safety of novel foods for human consumption.

Over the past twenty years or so, there has been a ‘revolution’ in the life sciences,and our knowledge and capabilities have dramatically increased. At the same time, these advances have raised very important ethical concerns in both the scientific community and with the public at large.

Laboratory Animals is an international journal of laboratory animal science and welfare. Laboratory Animals publishes peer-reviewed original papers and reviews on all aspects of the use of animals in biomedical research. The journal promotes improvements in the welfare or well-being of the animals used, it particularly focuses on research that reduces the number of animals used or which replaces animal models with in vitro alternatives.

Laboratory Animals publishes papers dealing with all aspects of the use of animals in biomedical research, including: new animal models; laboratory animal microbiology; clinical case reports; descriptions of new or improved research techniques; reports on the influence of environmental and other variables on research results; descriptions of techniques which offer replacements for in vivo models; and basic data characterizing the haematology, biochemistry or pathology of new or existing animal models. Papers describing work which involves a reduction in the number of animals that need to be used; or which replace animals with in vitro alternatives; or which represent a significant refinement in methodology, leading to improvements in the welfare or wellbeing of the animals used, are especially encouraged.

The Interspecies Database helps researchers to make an optimal choice of species and strain of the animal model, which is essential for efficient extrapolation of animal data to humans or other animals. Thee database has initially been developed by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports. It is offered by the 3Rs-Centre ULS in collaboration with the RIVM.

A special report can be found on this page titled: Utility and Morality:Contemporary Tradeoffs. Within this report there is an article by Bernard E. Rollin titled The Moral Status of Invasive Animal Research.