Studentship to improve animal welfare
The studentship will investigate ways to imrove animal welfare and minimise the suffering of rodents used in stroke research.
The University of Nottingham has been awarded £90,000 from the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs).
Dr Rebecca Trueman, in the School of Life Sciences, will use the money to supervise a three year PhD studentship to improve animal welfare and minimise the suffering of rodents used in stroke research and assess and promote the use of a milder model of stroke.
The NC3Rs has invested £900,000 to support studentship projects at eight UK institutions to minimise and improve animal research. Each project will investigate ways to replace the use of animals in research, reduce the number of animals used and improve laboratory animal welfare.
Dr Trueman said: “To discover and develop these new treatments requires the use of animals, primarily mice. The funding of this project from the NC3Rs will allow my team to develop new, more sensitive ways to assess the effects of stroke in mice. This means that we will be able to induce a far milder form of stroke than is commonly used for research, therefore significantly improving animal welfare but still enabling new treatments to be developed for this disabling and life limiting disease.”
Dr Vicky Robinson, Chief Executive of the NC3Rs said: “We are committed to supporting scientists at the start of their careers as it is vital to embed the 3Rs principles at this early stage. These young scientists are people who will take the 3Rs approach into the future. The PhD projects that we have funded in the past have explored some really exciting areas of science and the findings are already having a real impact on the use of animals in research.”
Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
