Experts collaborate to develop research technologies
Roslin scientists join UK-wide project to create lab-based alternatives to animal models for research.
The Roslin Institute is to build on its expertise in developing laboratory-based models to reduce or replace the use of animals in research, where it is feasible to do so.
A collaborative initiative with three other leading veterinary research organisations aims to design and validate novel lab-based models for studying farm animal health and disease.
The team will focus on novel or improved resources for studying pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens and fish, including work to validate the technologies as biologically relevant.
Reliable substitutes
Experts from Roslin will work in collaboration with The Pirbright Institute, Moredun Research Institute and the Royal Veterinary College to explore how reliably and reproducibly such models can mimic the features of cells and tissues of animals in their natural setting.
Their project will extend research on cell-based models, such as obtaining different cell types from stem cells; multicellular models, such as miniature organoids and combined cultures with mixtures of cell types found in different organs; and more complex models based on slices of tissues, or cultures with an air-liquid interface.
Novel approaches
Building on expertise at each institution, the collaboration will also establish new models. These will seek to include ruminant nasal tissue systems, using immune cells derived from bovine pluripotent stem cells, in addition to avian cell models and newly established fish organoids.
Where possible, protocols developed for the use of research technologies will be harmonised, to support use across species, and reproducibility across institutions and the wider veterinary research community.
This approach is hoped to support broader insights into interactions between infectious viruses or bacteria and the animals they affect, and innate immune responses that animals may have to disease.
The £150,000 project, which is under way, is supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
“Roslin welcomes this BBSRC-funded initiative to develop and validate novel models to reduce or replace the use of farmed animals in research.
The funding will help us to develop models for neglected species and body systems, and define the extent to which these can reliably reproduce the properties and responses of cells and tissues within animals.”
Established expertise
The initiative builds on Roslin’s expertise in creating and applying innovative models for studying animal bioscience, in support of the 3Rs – reduction, refinement and replacement of animals in research.
Their work includes ongoing efforts using stem cells to investigate differences in the resistance of domestic and wild pigs to African Swine Fever Virus.
The Institute has also applied gene-editing in cells to demonstrate the feasibility of editing animal genomes to prevent viral infections, such as Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus in pigs, and ongoing work to develop gene-edited chickens resistant to avian flu.
Elsewhere, Roslin experts have developed large animal models to study disease in mammals whose anatomy is comparable with that of humans, for example, gene-edited sheep that can speed research into Batten disease, a devastating childhood dementia.
Embryonic models, including developing chicks that can be viewed through a window in the egg shell, enable Roslin scientists to understand the development of limbs and organs, while organoids grown from stem cells have been developed at Roslin for researching gut biology in a range of farmed animals.
“By aligning expertise, standards and validation approaches, the collaboration aims to establish a trusted set of non-animal tools for key veterinary species across several Institutions.
In the long term, the project will support more reproducible and predictive research in veterinary immunology, infectious disease and vaccine development, while contributing to a sustained refinement and reduction in animal use.”
To support wider uptake and knowledge exchange, the consortium will host a one-day conference at the Roslin Institute, bringing together researchers and stakeholders to share findings, exchange expertise and discuss best practice for reliable in vitro models in veterinary research.
Registration is open for the event, taking place across two half-days on the afternoon of 26 March and the morning of 27 March.
The Roslin Institute receives strategic investment funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and it is part of the University of Edinburgh’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies.
For further information, please contact:
Roslin Institute
The University of Edinburgh
Easter Bush
Midlothian, EH25 9RG
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T: +44 (0)131 651 9100
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