Animal Research News Archive

“Why I am a Laboratory Animal Veterinarian”

Kelly Walton DVM, a third year student of comparative medicine at Colorado State University, explains why her love of animals led her to a career in laboratory animal welfare. More...

Three Who Stood Up

Their reputations were attacked. Their homes were damaged. Their lives were threatened. But these UCLA scientists refused to back down in the face of assaults by anti-animal-research extremists. More...

Don't Have the Wool Pulled Over Your Eyes

I suspect that most people don't realize how much they owe their well-being, even their lives, to research using experimental animals. "Animal rights" organizations, including the Humane Society of the United States, note -- as their stated goal -- the elimination of all such research. More...

FROM TEST TUBE TO HYPODERMIC NEEDLE

Although the use of animals as research subjects enjoyed nearly uniform approval 40 years ago, today only about half of Americans support the practice. An analysis in The Scientist magazine explains why. More...

AVOIDING ANIMAL TESTING

The US National Academy of Sciences released a report in 2007 envisioning a future in which animals would largely disappear from toxicity testing programs. The report was initially greeted with skepticism, but that skepticism is giving way to guarded excitement, according to Andrew Rowan of Humane Society International. More...

UBC RECEIVES $2.2M FROM BMO FINANCIAL GROUP

The University of British Columbia welcomes a $2.2 million donation from BMO Financial Group to support education and outreach for successful family business as well as innovative research and education to benefit dairy farms – most of them family-run. More...

TRANSPARENCY ENSURES IDEALS MET

UBC's new methods of looking at the ethics of animal research are leading the way to an improved future, says Judy Illes, Canada Research Chair in Neuroethics, in a Vancouver Sun op-ed. More...

UBC RELEASES NEW INFORMATION ON ANIMAL RESEARCH

The University of British Columbia has published on its Animal Research website information on the total number of animals involved in research during 2010, the major species groupings, and the degree of invasiveness of the research activities. More...

'BRAIN-MACHINE-BRAIN' restores touch

Monkeys implanted with brain electrodes were able to see and move a virtual object and sense the texture of what they saw, a step forward in the quest to help the severely paralyzed touch the outside world once more. More...

OF MICE AND MEDICINE:IN DEFENCE OF ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS

Animal experiments in the UK are on the rise. Though controversial, these tests are transforming human lives. More...

USING LIGHT TO PROBE THE BRAIN'S SELF-REPAIR AFTER A STROKE

A revolutionary new technique is allowing Canadian researchers to map, with exquisite precision, how the brain repairs itself after a stroke. More...

SOME POPULATIONS OF FRASER RIVER SALMON MORE LIKELY TO SURVIVE CLIMATE CHANGE: UBC STUDY

Populations of Fraser River sockeye salmon are so fine-tuned to their environment that any further environmental changes caused by climate change could lead to the disappearance of some populations, while others may be less affected, says a new study by University of British Columbia scientists. More...

WHY ARE UBC RESEARCHERS STUDYING GREEN SEA TURTLES?

As recent media stories have noted, green sea turtles are an endangered species facing extreme predation from fishing industry bycatch as a result of climate change. Prof. Bill Milsom, Head of the Department of Zoology in the Faculty of Science, discusses research designed to better understand these animals and thereby reduce their mortality. More...

PROPOSED PARKINSON'S RESEARCH: UBC RESPONDS TO JAN. 17 PROVINCE STORY

On January 17 The Province newspaper published a story about proposed research on Parkinson’s disease entitled “Bid to save UBC monkeys from grim death.” UBC has responded to the story with a letter to the editor. More...

WHY DO WE USE ANIMALS IN RESEARCH?

View a short interview with the Dr Simon Festing, Chief Executive of Understanding Research, and hear his response to questions such as: Why is their so much secrecy in animal research? and Can't we do without animals in medical research? More...

UBC-DEVELOPED FORMULATION OF LEISHMANIASIS DRUG SHOWN TO BE STABLE AND EFFECTIVE IN TROPICAL TERMPERATURES

UBC researchers’ new version of Amphotericin B was shown to be stable in tropical climates and effective in treating mice with Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL)-- a parasitic disease afflicting 12 million people worldwide. Current versions require injection and constant refrigeration, making it costly and challenging to deliver. More...

“JEKYLL AND HYDE” CELL MAY HOLD KEY TO MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY, FIBROSIS TREATMENT: UBC RESEARCH

UBC research identified fat-producing cells that possess “dual-personalities” and may further aid in developing treatments for muscle diseases such as muscular dystrophy and fibrosis. The team found a new type of fibro/adipogenic progenitors, or FAPs, that generate fatty fibrous tissues when transplanted into damaged muscles in mice. More...

UBC RESEARCHERS DEVELOP NEW METHOD TO STUDY GAMBLING ADDICTIONS

UBC researchers created the world’s first animal laboratory experiment to successfully model human gambling. The advance will help scientists develop and test new treatments for gambling addictions, a devastating condition that affects millions worldwide. More...

UBC RESEARCHERS LINK HUNTINGTON DEPRESSION TO GENETICS

UBC research using mouse models showed depression experienced by people with Huntington disease may be unrelated to the emotional stress of having the disease. More...

COMMON EPILEPSY DRUG COULD PREVENT AND TREAT ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

Researchers at UBC and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute discovered, in animal models, that a drug used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorders blocks the formation of plaques that cause Alzheimer’s disease. More...

UBC RESEARCHERS' DISCOVERY COULD REJUVENATE THE BRAIN

Using animal models, UBC researchers discovered why the brain loses its capacity to re-grow connections and repair itself, knowledge that could lead to therapeutics that “rejuvenate” the brain. More...

UBC RESEARCHERS FIND NEW SUPERBUG WEAPON FOR NEAR-EMPTY ANTIBIOTICS ARSENAL

Fighting antibiotic-resistant lethal infections -- such as “hospital superbugs” -- may be aided by a UBC discovery that identified, in animal models, a peptide that fights infection by boosting the body's own immune system. More...

UBC RESEARCHERS FIND POTENTIAL NEW TARGET FOR AUTISM, RETARDATION THERAPIES

An international team led by UBC neuroscientists used animal models to discover the "on-off switch" that controls how chemical messages are exchanged in the brain, a finding that may lead to new therapies for autism, schizophrenia and mental retardation. More...

SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY UNEXPECTED SOURCE OF “GOOD CHOLESTEROL”

Scientists at UBC’s Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics provided the first definitive proof that the intestine, together with the liver, produces nearly all of the body’s “good cholesterol.” The discovery, using genetically modified mice, could lead to new therapies for cardiovascular disease. More...

UBC RESEARCHERS FIND STROKE DEATH CHANNEL

New therapies for stroke patients may be possible thanks to a discovery made by a team of UBC neuroscientists. Using animal models, researchers found a new stroke death channel where key chemicals are lost from brain cells during stroke, causing disabling cell death. More...

UBC SCIENTISTS CREATE PROTEIN TO BLOCK ADDICTION CRAVINGS

UBC researchers found a way, in animal models, to block the communication between brain cells that triggers drug cravings, a finding that could lead to new therapies to treat addiction and relapse as well as compulsive behaviours associated with schizophrenia. More...