Refine: Research on methods to reduce pain or suffering of laboratory animals

In Germany, researchers conducting animal experiments are required to assess the burden that animals may experience in relation to the experimental procedures. An essential part of the approval procedure by the authorities is to examine the researcher's assessment of the severity of the experiment.

Assessing stress of animals in experiments is a major challenge. For many mammalian species a so-called "facial expression score" has been developed and validated, where various facial expressions are scored to assess stress or pain. Would this work also in chicken? Chicken are a frequently used species for research of infectious diseases.

Training animals to accept or even voluntary participate in experiment related interventions has a great potential to reduce anxiety and stress in laboratory animals. Interventions may be moving the animals, measuring their body mass or taking blood samples. There is some knowledge and experience that animals can successfully be trained to cooperate in medical procedures. But there is a lack of information how effective this husbandry training can be and what the conditions for effective training are.

In physiology and behavior, significant differences can sometimes occur between individuals. The analysis should help to identify limits to the standardizability of animal studies and provide data on the emergence of individual differences, which are important for better transferability of experimental results to humans.

Boredom is an unpleasant emotion that is experienced through forced inactivity or through an activity that is perceived as monotonous or underwhelming. In this project, the Bf3R is identifying strategies for recording and reducing the symptoms of boredom in laboratory animals.

After rodents, fish represent the largest group of laboratory animals in Germany. In order to minimise the suffering of the animals, the pain perception of fish is being researched.