Research Animal Welfare: Current Practices and Future Directions

Dear Colleagues,

The use of laboratory animals remains essential for conducting biomedical research and advancing both human and veterinary medicine. However, it is a significant responsibility and ensuring animal welfare must always be a top priority. The principles of Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement (the 3Rs), introduced by William Russell and Rex Birch in 1956, laid the groundwork for improving laboratory animal welfare. While substantial progress has been made in developing non-animal methods for biological research, we have yet to reach a point where animals can be completely replaced.

Laboratory animal welfare encompasses both physical and psychological well-being, requiring the diligent effort of all personnel involved. Proper housing and nutrition provided by husbandry staff, clinical and preventive healthcare by veterinary teams, and the use of refined techniques by research staff are all critical to maintaining animal welfare. Key components for enhancing welfare include staff training and the post-approval monitoring (PAM) process. Training personnel in proper animal handling and experimental procedures is essential for minimizing animal distress. The PAM process ensures that research complies with approved protocols and regulations, safeguarding animal welfare throughout the study.

Neglecting animal welfare can compromise experimental rigor and reproducibility, which is why ensuring the well-being of research animals is vital for producing high-quality research.

We invite researchers to submit both review articles and original research on laboratory animal welfare, with a particular focus on how technological innovations can enhance it. We seek strategies and tools that can improve animal welfare, such as the CIRS-LAS portal—a web-based platform called the "Critical Incident Reporting System in Laboratory Animal Science"—which allows users to anonymously share critical incidents and negative experiences from animal experiments or husbandry practices. Additionally, we welcome submissions exploring how automated and continuous animal monitoring through artificial intelligence and digital biomarkers can advance welfare practices.

Dr. Bhupinder Singh
Dr. Patricia V. Turner
Guest Editors

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