Members of the BRU win first prize for refinement project at Institute of Animal Technology poster event
We are delighted to announce that Lisa Doar and Jo Roberts of the Biological Resources Unit recently won first prize and £500 for their poster improving animal welfare.
The annual Institute of Animal Technology (IAT) North West Branch Poster Competition Day, held at the University of Manchester on 5 September, showcased innovation in animal research, whilst promoting knowledge sharing and encouraging networking opportunities.
Each poster highlighted recent studies or welfare techniques that researchers and technicians had been working on, aiming to enhance animal welfare and refine techniques within facilities.
Lisa, who leads Experimental Services in the BRU, presented their winning poster on ‘The Refinement of Targeted Irradiations in the BRU’.
The poster spotlighted a refinement project that Lisa and senior technician Jo have been working on for several months, setting out how they designed, and 3D printed an X-ray jig that enables the preferential use of inhalation anaesthesia for tumour targeted X-ray work, rather than injectable anaesthetic.
Inhalation anaesthesia is much less invasive for the mice; the recovery time post procedure is considerably faster, and it is easier to adjust the anaesthetic dose for more sensitive strains of mice.
They also acknowledge the contributions from Steve Bagley and Henry Banks in the Visualisation, Irradiation and Analysis team, who helped them with the drawings for the 3D printed model.
The judges said it was an unanimous decision to choose our poster as the winner, and Jo and I are delighted with the outcome. We’ve been working on trying to come up with a suitable solution to allow us to swap to inhalation anaesthesia for a while and progress was slow due to the focus on the relocation, so to finally have a product that we’ve designed ourselves and which we’ve proven works as intended feels like a great achievement.
Lisa Doar
BRU Experimental Team Manager
