Building platforms to connect clinicians and model organism researchers.

The lab animal community lost Dr. Jerald Silverman on November 14, 2020 to COVID-19. Here, we reflect on Jerry and his long-running and well-loved Protocol Review column.

For the production and rederivation of mouse strains, pseudopregnant female mice are used for embryo transfer and serve as surrogate mothers to support embryo development to term. Vasectomized males are commonly used to render pseudopregnancy in females, generated by surgical procedures associated with considerable pain and discomfort. Genetically modified mouse strains with a sterility phenotype provide

New wrinkles on the Nobel prize-winning method are creating new efficiencies, and new research opportunities.

Poorly controlled background genetics in animal models contributes to the lack of reproducibility that is increasingly recognized in biomedical research. The laboratory zebrafish, Danio rerio, has been an important model organism for decades in many research areas, yet inbred strains and traditionally managed outbred stocks are not available for this species. Sometimes incorrectly referred to as ‘inbred

Employment of anesthetics, including isoflurane, though mandatory in animal experiments, is often regarded as a major limitation because results obtained with anesthetics may be different from those obtained under a conscious state. This study re-visits two issues related to the use of isoflurane. First, does isoflurane exert depression equally on all aspects of cardiovascular functions and their regulations

Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) is a very common interventional treatment for treating stenosis in arteriovenous fistula (AVF) used for hemodialysis vascular access. Restenosis occurs after PTA, resulting in vascular lumen loss and a decrease in blood flow. Experimental animal models have been developed to study the pathogenesis of stenosis, but there is no restenosis model after PTA of

Journeying into the field to study a model organism in its natural habitats.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Host genetics, housing conditions, and antibiotic treatments impact microbiota diversity and composition, but microbes that inhabit the mouse gut and skin can also influence severity and penetrance of host mutant phenotypes.

To achieve knockdown rather than knockout of particular genes, a new paper demonstrates a CRISPR/Cas13 method that can efficiently edit mRNA in zebrafish, medaka, killifish, and mouse embryos.

In response to the issues posed in this scenario, the National Institutes of Health - Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (NIH-OLAW) provides the following clarification:

There are administrative challenges inherent to any animal research program – from hiring vets and care staff to approving and overseeing protocols to reporting to the relevant authorities. Small institutions, with limited resources and available staff compared to ‘research juggernauts,’ can have extra hurdles to cross when administering their animal research programs.

Studying potentially dangerous microbes in animal models of the disease they cause takes some extra considerations, as researchers and staff must perform their work under the careful restrictions of different biosafety level laboratories.

The relationships between individuals and the research animals they work with can enhance animal welfare, but they also involve a moral cost to staff. Securing a safe space to communicate openly about animal welfare & research and acknowledge its emotional impacts is crucial. In this Comment, we reflect on emotional resilience and provide resources available to help manage the emotional burden of working

Robyn Raban and Omar Akbari describe a day in the life of the mosquito insectary team at the University of California, San Diego, outlining the procedures, goals, and types of systems they are engineering to control mosquito-transmitted diseases.

Engineers and neuroscientists working to advance multiphoton microscopy are pushing the depths, speeds, and scales of in vivo imaging.

Zebrafish have quickly emerged as a species of choice in preclinical research, holding promise to advance the field of behavioral pharmacology through high-throughput experiments. Besides biological and heuristic considerations, zebrafish also constitute a fundamental tool that fosters the replacement of mammals with less sentient experimental subjects. Notwithstanding these features, experimental