LAS CPD webinar | “Reduction by Design: Three Statistical Principles for Minimising Animal Use” | Friday, 1 December 2023, 2 PM CET
Dear laboratory animal researchers
Karolinska Institute’s laboratory animal science webinar on Friday, 01 December, describes strategies for maximizing experimental signal and reducing noise in your experiments. See below more detailed information and registration instructions.
Note that the number of attendants in these Karolinska Institute webinars is limited. Persons not affiliated to KI or to any of the sponsors listed in the registration form may be let out if there are too many participants.
Best regards,
Sakari
Sakari Laaksonen Designated veterinarian Oulu Laboratory Animal Centre (OULAC) University of Oulu, Finland Postal address: PO Box 5000, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland Tel: +358 294 48 5097
Aihe: LAS CPD webinar | “Reduction by Design: Three Statistical Principles for Minimising Animal Use” | Friday, 1 December 2023, 2 PM CET
Dear colleague,
Registration is open for the free webinar “Reduction by Design: Three Statistical Principles for Minimising Animal Use” which will be presented by Penny S. Reynolds, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Date: Friday, 1 December 2023, Stockholm 2 PM CEThttps://time.is/CET
ABSTRACT
Reduction of animal numbers is one of the three pillars of the 3Rs, but – paradoxically - is often perceived as conflicting with the goal of maximizing statistical power. However, a large sample size does not guarantee adequate power, and high power does not ensure that results are informative. Based on Ronald Fisher’s concept of statistical information, I outline three statistically-based but non-technical strategies for maximizing experimental signal and reducing noise. These include a clear statement of the research question, statistically-structured study design, and variance minimisation. These statistical process basics were developed almost a century ago, and were clearly described by Russell and Burch in 1959. However, most researchers seem to be completely unaware of their existence, and research quality is still poor. Too-small, noisy, and biased studies are uninformative and waste animals. It is our shared responsibility to promote well-established best practice standards, and emphasise appropriate design of experiments over statistical significance.
SPEAKER Penny S. Reynoldshttps://anest.ufl.edu/profile/reynolds-penelope/ is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, a wildlife biologist, a statistics expert, a 3Rs advocate, and an author. She has received the UK LASA-Animals in Science Education Trust 3Rs Prize, and the AAALAC Global 3Rs Award. She was one of the co-authors of the ARRIVE 2.0 Reporting Guidelines and Explanation and Elaboration document. Her book “A Guide to Sample Size for Animal-based Studies” is scheduled for release in November 2023.
Register herehttps://websurvey.textalk.se/start.php?ID=146263 (by November 30, 16:00 CET)
Best wishes,
Rafael
___________________________________ Rafael Frías DVM, MSc, PhD, Assoc. Prof. Head, Department of Comparative Medicine (AKM) Named Animal Care and Welfare Officer (NACWO) Karolinska University Hospital (Solna) Anna Steckséns 53, L1:U1 | 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden +46 70167-1632 | rafael.frias-beneyto@regionstockholm.semailto:rafael.frias-beneyto@regionstockholm.se Karolinska Experimental Research and Imaging Centre (KERIC)https://ki.se/en/research/karolinska-experimental-research-and-imaging-centre-keric __________________________________________
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Registration is open: Fin3R Center webinar in Zoom When: February 27, 2024 at 14:00 (Helsinki, East-European Time) Title: "Aging Lab Animals, Aging Research, Aging Standards" Speaker: Dr. Steven Niemi (Boston University, USA) The concept of standards has been embedded in lab animal care since the early days and for good reason. They have been useful for improving animal welfare and scientific data integrity. But we continuously learn more about how animals are influenced by their environment (including their microbiome as well as how we interact with them) while standards do not change. When do standards jeopardize rather than support research and discourage innovations in husbandry, breeding, and veterinary care? Why should one-size-fits-all continue to be followed blindly when we can easily customize the lab animal's environment and experiences as knowledge evolves and new needs arise? Examples of barriers to progress and options will be presented for discussion.
SPEAKER: STEVEN M. NIEMI, DVM, DACLAM With over 40 years' experience in biomedical research and commercial biotechnology, Steve has held senior management positions in contract drug and device development, biotech start-ups in human gene therapy and food animal genomics, and laboratory animal care and assurance. He is a Diplomate and past president of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine and has served on numerous boards and national task forces addressing medical product development and laboratory animal welfare. Steve earned an AB with a concentration in Biology from Harvard College, a DVM from Washington State University, and received a US Public Health Service National Research Service Award while a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He completed the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School in 1991 and was a 2019-2020 Visiting Fellow in the Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School. Steve currently is Attending Veterinarian and Director, Animal Science Center, Boston University and Adjunct Professor, Department of Comparative Pathobiology, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Register in advance for this meeting: https://helsinki.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Akd-usrTsuGdEu58VJmr_TS9cO4JUYMH... 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!
_________________________________________ Vootele Voikar, MD, PhD Laboratory Animal Center Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE) P.O. Box 29 (Mustialankatu 1G) FI-00014 University of Helsinki Finland
Phone: +358 2941 57658 E-mail: vootele.voikar@helsinki.fimailto:vootele.voikar@helsinki.fi
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/infrastructures/comprehensive-model-organisms https://www.fingmice.fi/mbpf/ e-mail: mbpf@helsinki.fimailto:mbpf@helsinki.fi
Dear laboratory animal researchers,
I would like to kindly remind you of the tomorrow's Fin3R Center webinar "Aging Lab Animals, Aging Research, Aging Standards". Please see the webinar and registration info below.
Best regards,
Sakari
Sakari Laaksonen Designated veterinarian Oulu Laboratory Animal Centre (OULAC) University of Oulu, Finland Postal address: PO Box 5000, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland Tel: +358 294 48 5097
Registration is open: Fin3R Center webinar in Zoom When: February 27, 2024 at 14:00 (Helsinki, East-European Time) Title: "Aging Lab Animals, Aging Research, Aging Standards" Speaker: Dr. Steven Niemi (Boston University, USA) The concept of standards has been embedded in lab animal care since the early days and for good reason. They have been useful for improving animal welfare and scientific data integrity. But we continuously learn more about how animals are influenced by their environment (including their microbiome as well as how we interact with them) while standards do not change. When do standards jeopardize rather than support research and discourage innovations in husbandry, breeding, and veterinary care? Why should one-size-fits-all continue to be followed blindly when we can easily customize the lab animal's environment and experiences as knowledge evolves and new needs arise? Examples of barriers to progress and options will be presented for discussion.
SPEAKER: STEVEN M. NIEMI, DVM, DACLAM With over 40 years' experience in biomedical research and commercial biotechnology, Steve has held senior management positions in contract drug and device development, biotech start-ups in human gene therapy and food animal genomics, and laboratory animal care and assurance. He is a Diplomate and past president of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine and has served on numerous boards and national task forces addressing medical product development and laboratory animal welfare. Steve earned an AB with a concentration in Biology from Harvard College, a DVM from Washington State University, and received a US Public Health Service National Research Service Award while a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He completed the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School in 1991 and was a 2019-2020 Visiting Fellow in the Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School. Steve currently is Attending Veterinarian and Director, Animal Science Center, Boston University and Adjunct Professor, Department of Comparative Pathobiology, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Register in advance for this meeting: https://helsinki.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Akd-usrTsuGdEu58VJmr_TS9cO4JUYMH... 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!
_________________________________________ Vootele Voikar, MD, PhD Laboratory Animal Center Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE) P.O. Box 29 (Mustialankatu 1G) FI-00014 University of Helsinki Finland
Phone: +358 2941 57658 E-mail: vootele.voikar@helsinki.fimailto:vootele.voikar@helsinki.fi
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/infrastructures/comprehensive-model-organisms https://www.fingmice.fi/mbpf/ e-mail: mbpf@helsinki.fimailto:mbpf@helsinki.fi
Dear laboratory animal researchers,
The next Fin3R Center’s laboratory animal science webinar “Preregistration of animal studies” will be held on Tuesday, 12 March. Please see the webinar and registration info below.
Best regards,
Sakari
Sakari Laaksonen Designated veterinarian Oulu Laboratory Animal Centre (OULAC) University of Oulu, Finland Postal address: PO Box 5000, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland Tel: +358 294 48 5097
Fin3R Center webinar in Zoom When: March 12, 2024 at 14:00 (Helsinki, East-European Time) Title: “Preregistration of Animal Studies” Speaker: Dr. Julia Menon (Preclinicaltrials.eu, The Netherlands) Preregistration, an open science practice, involves recording a study protocol before the start of the experiment. Widely used in clinical research (e.g. clinicaltrials.gov), preregistration is gaining traction in animal studies by enhancing transparency, robustness, and preventing unintentional study duplication. Dedicated platforms such as Preclinicaltrials.eu simplify the preregistration process, making it accessible, flexible, fast, and secure. Join this webinar to explore the benefits of preregistration for improving the quality and transparence of animal studies, and learn about preclinicaltrials.eu features to preregister yourself in the future.
Julia Menon is the Daily Director of Preclinicaltrials.eu, a registration platform tailored to animal studies. She is from background a biologist (graduated from the Radboud University, the Netherlands) but has evolved in her career through meta-research, particularly systematic reviews and qualitative studies. She is a 3Rs advocate, focussing on tools and methods to improve animal research's transparency and robustness. Her current focus lies on preregistration of animal studies and how it may improve study quality and accessibility. She is also administrator for the platform PROSPERO, section editor for Laboratory Animals, and board member of the Young TPI association. Register in advance for this meeting: https://helsinki.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Ukdu2vqzgtHdSkxWpbIMBW_FuTZip19Y... 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!
_________________________________________ Vootele Voikar, MD, PhD Laboratory Animal Center Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE) P.O. Box 29 (Mustialankatu 1G) FI-00014 University of Helsinki Finland
Phone: +358 2941 57658 E-mail: vootele.voikar@helsinki.fimailto:vootele.voikar@helsinki.fi
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/infrastructures/comprehensive-model-organisms https://www.fingmice.fi/mbpf/ e-mail: mbpf@helsinki.fimailto:mbpf@helsinki.fi
Dear researchers
Rigorous planning and study design utilising appropriate guidelines and checklists are the cornerstones of good scientific practice. In the next Fin3R Center webinar “PREPARE for Better Science: A practical guide to available resources”, Adrian Smith will discuss this issue within the field of laboratory animal research. Registration is now open for the webinar that will be held on 2 April 2024, 2 PM Finnish time. Please se below more information about the webinar and registration.
Best regards,
Sakari Laaksonen Designated veterinarian Oulu Laboratory Animal Centre (OULAC) University of Oulu, Finland Postal address: PO Box 5000, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland Tel: +358 294 48 5097
Registration (link below) is open for the free webinar “PREPARE for Better Science: A practical guide to available resources” which will be presented by Dr. Adrian Smith (Norecopa, Norway).
Date: April 2, 2024, Helsinki 2 PM (EEST)
ABSTRACT We should all strive for better science, to ensure that it is ethically acceptable, scientifically valid, reproducible and (in the case of animal research and testing) translatable to the target species. Animal welfare, health and safety, culture of care, and transparency for all stakeholders have also become important elements of the modern research ecosystem. It is now 40 years since the first guidelines for reporting animal research were developed. While good reporting is an essential part of the research pipeline, the issues mentioned above must be discussed from day 1 of planning studies which appear to involve animal use, and they must be addressed throughout the study, using appropriate guidance and checklists. This approach has been used for many years in industry, but there are still serious flaws in the way in which animal research is carried out, not least within academia. A significant part of the problem lies within inadequate dialogue between scientists and animal facility staff. This webinar will give an overview of the current concerns within animal research and advice on how we can improve our science. It will also demonstrate how the PREPARE guidelines, in combination with other resources, can be used as a framework for developing robust studies which fulfill the above criteria.
SPEAKER Adrian Smith is a British veterinarian, resident in Norway since 1980. He has had many different positions within the laboratory animal community in Norway, including the Chair in Laboratory Animal Science at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Since 2007 he has been secretary of Norecopa (https://norecopa.nohttps://norecopa.no/) , Norway's National Consensus Platform for replacement, reduction and refinement of animal experiments. Adrian is a firm believer in good animal welfare, not least because it is a win-win situation for both the animals and scientists, since the data obtained from these animals is the best possible. More information at https://norecopa.no/staff/adrian-smith
Register in advance for this meeting: https://helsinki.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5clf-2hpzMiGNS1tIpqHd4tKAlEr0_aCi... 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!
_________________________________________ Vootele Voikar, MD, PhD Laboratory Animal Center Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE) P.O. Box 29 (Mustialankatu 1G) FI-00014 University of Helsinki Finland
Phone: +358 2941 57658 E-mail: vootele.voikar@helsinki.fimailto:vootele.voikar@helsinki.fi
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/infrastructures/comprehensive-model-organisms https://www.fingmice.fi/mbpf/ e-mail: mbpf@helsinki.fimailto:mbpf@helsinki.fi
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Sakari Laaksonen