Projects approved by the Home Office are all anonymised to prevent anyone knowing which institutions carry out the studies. The location is also withheld so it’s impossible (without detective work) to know which licences have been approved in Wales.
Of the projects listed in the Non-Technical Summaries for the first quarter of 2026, 3 are for the breeding of animals to be used in other projects:
Project 12 – Generation, breeding and maintenance of genetically altered mice: Approval for 53,700 mice to be used over 5 years for basic research
Project 40 - Breeding and maintenance of genetically altered mice: Approval for 3,000 mice to be used over 5 years for basic and translational or applied research
Project 55 - Breeding and maintenance of genetically altered zebrafish: Approval for 105,000 zebrafish to be used over 5 years for basic research, including authority for cryopreservation - preserving ‘biological materials’ by cooling them to low temperatures.
A further project – 71: Phenotyping Genetically Altered mice is a service licence (authorizing multiple generic or standardized procedures before the exact details or clients are known).
77,000 mice over 5 years for basic and translational or applied research have been approved.
Approx 70% will be required for breeding. The institution will also carry out procedures and phenotyping to cater for the requirements of clients and collaborators, including pharmaceutical companies.
The animals will be subjected to procedures including gavage (force feeding) and fear conditioning (via electric shocks to the feet). Some will be terminally bled.
From the details provided, including the scope of the activities, the equipment and staffing and the acknowledgement of international collaborators, it would seem this project has been approved for the Mary Lyon Centre in Didcot which services the National Mouse Genetics Network. It has received £5.5 million of public funding but operates on a commercial not-for-profit basis.
Animal research is big business and the animal research community will not give up without a fight!
Add comment
Comments