It’s the 3rd Thursday of July and you’re listening to 3 Minute 3Rs, your monthly recap of efforts to replace, reduce, and refine the use of animals in research.
The papers behind the pod:
- SARS-CoV-2 infects an upper airway model derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. Stem Cells https://stemcellsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/stem.3422
- A break from the pups: The effects of loft access on the welfare of lactating laboratory rats. PLos One https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253020
- 3D printed rodent skin-skull-brain model: A novel animal-free approach for neurosurgical training. PLoS One https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253477
This month, we’ll be covering welfare for rat moms and an animal-free option for practicing your surgical skills. But first, let’s hear about an in vitro model for COVID-19 research.
[NC3Rs] As researchers around the world fight against COVID-19, in vitro models continue to gain traction. As well as reducing reliance on animals, they offer a cost-effective approach for generating models on a large scale. This is particularly useful for high-throughput drug screening, making in vitro models a key tool in the search for effective COVID-19 treatments.
A recent paper in Stem Cells by Ivo Djidrovski and colleagues describes an upper airway model derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. These allow a large number of cells of different types to be generated without relying on primary samples, which can vary considerably between donors.
The model can produce mucus and functional cilia and replicates the behaviour observed in vivo when infected with SARS-CoV-2. The team’s next step will be to incorporate immune cell components into the model to further increase its relevance.
Want to learn more about how stem cells could play a key role in fighting COVID? Follow the link in the description.
[Speaking of COVID...]
[NA3RsC] Were you locked down in a small apartment with multiple young children during the pandemic? If so, you probably wanted a break from them. New research shows that rat moms also want a break from their pups.
In standard housing, rat dams are unable to spend time away from their pups due to caging set-up. But a recent study by researchers at University of British Columbia explores how providing a loft effects dam welfare.
They found that as pups age, dams with lofts spend more time in their lofts, less time nursing, and, specifically, less time passively nursing. By the time that pups are 3 weeks old, dams will actually spend 50% of their time in their lofts. Furthermore, dams without a loft may show signs of negative affect.
Want to learn more about giving rat dams a break from their pups? Read the full paper online in Plos One.
[Lab Animal] And finally, let’s talk about rodent surgery. Building up those surgical skills takes practice. The more complicated the procedure, the more time you’ll need to spend pe
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.