Dissemination of COST Action IMPROVE at the Austrian 3Rs days in Innsbruck, Austria
Thanks to a dissemination conference grant, Sophie Schober was able to attend the 3Rdays 2023 InN Motion in Innsbruck (Austria) from December 5-7th 2023.
Two contributions (short talks) have been submitted and accepted:
Session 2: Refine Animal Interactions
Title: A re-usable open-source platform to upgrade rat cages
Session 3: 3R & Regulatory
Title: Ovariectomy in surplus female mice to generate cage mates for experimental males – a refinement to improve biomedical science (Co-Author)
The first presentation showed a newly developed cage platform for rat cages made by ISTA. This platform offers an additional level in standard cages and thus contributes to refinement of animal experiments.
The second presentation described the improvement of animal welfare in animals single-housed due to experiments by providing sterile cage buddies.
During the conference, Dr. Schober was involved in engaging discussions (animal welfare committee meeting, meeting of veterinarians specialized in laboratory animal science). Main topics have been the avoidance of surplus animals, the avoidance of the severity level “severe” in animal experiments as well as the education of veterinarians in Austria regarding lab animals and 3Rs.
All are central topics of the COST ACTION IMPROVE whose aims and work were disseminated at the Austrian 3Rs days.