Attacking Alzheimer’s disease from every angle

The characteristic feature of Alzheimers’s disease is the presence in the brain of two different kinds of abnormal protein structures, the amyloid plaques that are formed from the amyloid beta peptide along the outside of the nerve cells, and the neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) that are formed by the tau protein inside the nerve cells. As … Continue reading Attacking Alzheimer’s disease from every angle

92% of statistics are taken out of context…

A better response to the "92%..." argument has been written by Robin Lovell-Badge and can be found on our website here. I thought I'd dedicate an entire post to a certain statistic which has been repeatedly misused and misunderstood by animal rights groups. 92% of drugs that test successfully in animals fail during human trials … Continue reading 92% of statistics are taken out of context…

New DVD shows how biomedical research can save your pet!

Americans for Medical Progress, whom Speaking of Research works side by side with, have just released a fantastic new DVD which looks at the impact of animal research on veterinary medicine. The DVD follows four veterinarians; Marilyn Brown, Arnold Goldman, Lisa Portnoy and John Young, who lent their thoughts, hearts and voices in order to … Continue reading New DVD shows how biomedical research can save your pet!

Stem cell hope for Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an inherited disease that affects about one in every 4,000 males born in the USA. It is caused by mutations in the DMD gene that lead to the protein dystrophin being either absent or faulty, which leads to muscle cell death, progressive muscle wasting and early death, with few patients … Continue reading Stem cell hope for Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Dr. Michael DeBakey

We are sorry to learn of the death of Dr. Michael DeBakey. DeBakey was a world-renowned heard surgeon who developed the roller pump, an essential component of the life-saving heart lung machine (used during Cardiopulmonary Bypass) which propels the blood through the tubing. His pioneering work in the field of cardiology later led him to … Continue reading Dr. Michael DeBakey

Peta – Out with the new, In with the old!

It seems Peta is running out of news lately - so its front page has decided to bring back the story of mistreatment of animals at Oregon National Primate Research Center - a story which turned out to be completely false when the USDA investigated. Want proof? Here's the USDA report giving ONPRC a clean … Continue reading Peta – Out with the new, In with the old!

Three Challenges for the coming months

I recently gave a speech at the International Conference for Animal Research Policy, in it I laid out three challenges for the upcoming months. We've all heard of the 3R's, so this is the 3ES's: Enabling Scientists Encouraging Students Educating Schoolchildren We must enable scientists by providing them with an outlet to talk about their … Continue reading Three Challenges for the coming months

Want information on animal research? animalresearch.info!

A new website created by the RDS has been launched a couple of days ago. Animalresearch.info allows scientists to make their own contributions (subject to moderation) to add to the already vast repository of information on "the contribution of animal research to medical science". The website offers in-depth information on Nobel Prize winners, drug developments … Continue reading Want information on animal research? animalresearch.info!