Animal welfare & 3R
This page contains important information concerning animal experimentation and animal welfare for you working with animals in UUBF's facilities.
Before you start
Before starting experiments involving animals, make sure to take into consideration the following points:
- All procedures involving animals must be approved by the Animal Ethical Committee before experiments can begin. UUBF will check ethical permits and verify that all procedures have been approved, before you can start your experiments at our facilities. You are welcome to write an email to UUBF so that we can support you in drafting or amending your applications for ethical permits.
- Before you can start to carry out animal experiments you need proper education (equivalent to FELASA certification). If you already have relevant education, send your certificate to the University veterinarian or email UUBF and we will assist you.
- Planning behavior experiments including start date will be done in consultation with UUBF. You need to plan your experiments in advance as many researchers share limited resources!
Swedish Board of Agriculture
Read more about the Swedish legislation regarding animals in research at the website of the Swedish Board of Agriculture.
The 3Rs
The principle of the 3Rs, Replacement, Reduction, Refinement, was developed several decades ago and provide the basis for a more humane animal research. The core principle resulting from the 3R-framework is that all researchers planning and carrying out experiments involving live animals, should strive to:
- Always seek methods to replace animal experiments with other models and tools where possible (Replace).
- The number of animals used in experiments should be reduced by optimising study design and analysis (Reduce).
- The experiments which are carried out should be constantly improved to further animal welfare and minimise suffering (Refine).
How UUBF can support you
UUBF strives to support researchers in all three aspects of the 3R-framework by several means. By discussing research aims and goals with our clients, we support them in choosing appropriate animal experiments and suggest alternatives when possible. Later in the experimental process, UUBF can provide assistance with data analysis, possibly reducing the number of animals needed for meaningful conclusions. Moreover, standard operating procedures provided by UUBF can help to further refine handling of research animals as well as study design.
Alternatives to animal research
Feel free to contact our staff to discuss how you can replace, reduce and refine animal experimentation in your research area. The main goal of UUBF is to provide its clients with the tools and knowledge to carry out meaningful animal research. This ultimately means that we have to be at the forefront of providing information on alternatives to animal experimentation. In addition to further the use of refined study designs to maximize well-being for the animals.
You can find a list of organisations working with 3R and alternatives to animal research on the website of the Swedish 3Rs Center. Furthermore, Norecopa provides a searchable database of books and articles concerning alternatives to animal experiments.
UUBF support - from design to published paper
The backbone of all experiments
A well-designed experiment is more likely to yield meaningful results while minimising the risk of unforeseen errors.
From design to result
Put your plans in practice using UUBF's facilities, equipment and expertise.
Gain insights
Get the most out of your data by optimising your data analysis.
Report your findings
Provide the most value to the scientific community by publishing your results in a clear and concise way.
