There is encouraging news this week on the prospects for an effective vaccine against HIV. A research team led by Professor Mariano Esteban at the Spanish Superior Scientific Research Council (CSIC) have announced that the vaccine MVA-B elicited a persistent immune response against HIV in 85% of volunteers in a phase 1 clinical trial. MVA-B … Continue reading Mice and macaques pave the way for effective HIV vaccines
Month: September 2011
Confronting AR Accusations at a Local and National Level
Charities are regularly targeted by animal rights groups. Currently Animal Aid have been targeting some of the UKs biggest medical research charities including the British Heart Foundation (strong proponents of animal-based research), Cancer Research UK, Alzheimer's Society and Parkinson's UK. It was refreshing to see these charities responding to this national press by providing comments … Continue reading Confronting AR Accusations at a Local and National Level
Speaking of Statistics
We recently updated the statistics page of the website. Here are the highlights: The numbers of dogs used in research was at its lowest rate since measurements began in the 1970s. The current figure is less than 1/3 of its number in the late 1970s. The number of cats used remains at a general low … Continue reading Speaking of Statistics
Mice show the way to improved stem cell therapy for heart attacks
When the results of clinical trials do not live up to expectations from pre-clinical studies in animals it can be all too easy to ascribe the divergence to species differences, however scientists are increasingly aware that in many, even most cases, the problem may not be species differences but rather differences in the design of studies in … Continue reading Mice show the way to improved stem cell therapy for heart attacks
Blogging the Benefits of Animal Research
I wanted to alert our viewers to a fantastic new blog I discovered recently. The Ark Hive, written by Dr. Paul Foster, a Lecturer in Molecular Endocrinology at the University of Birmingham in the UK. According to his blog, Dr. Foster is: "an experienced cancer researcher and pharmacologist with a strong interest in understanding how … Continue reading Blogging the Benefits of Animal Research
Animal research unlocks the secrets of aging
As populations in many developed countries age an important question facing medical science is whether cognitive decline is insvitible as we age, and whether it can be presented or reversed. Professor Carol A. Burns of the University of Arizona- who was last year awarded the prestigious Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award by the Society for … Continue reading Animal research unlocks the secrets of aging
A breakthrough against Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia…thank the mice!
A challenge that science communicators frequently face when discussing the process whereby a scientific discovery eventually leads to a medical breakthrough is the time that this often takes, indeed by the time that the reports of exciting clinical trial outcomes start to appear in the press the role of the scientists who made the initial … Continue reading A breakthrough against Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia…thank the mice!
Interview with a Primate Researcher
Wisconsin National Primate Research Center Director Jon Levine has kindly allowed us to reproduce a piece previously posted in On Wisconsin. Question and Answer with Wisconsin National Primate Research Center Director Jon Levine Work flows from “the best of reasons,” says new director of primate research center. Administering a big research center at the forefront … Continue reading Interview with a Primate Researcher
Speaking of Research 