Kati Bertrand 🐀
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katibertrand.bsky.social
Kati Bertrand 🐀
@katibertrand.bsky.social
1.5K followers 1.6K following 2 posts
Laboratory science specialist at PETA’s Science Advancement & Outreach division | MSc, animal breeding and genetics | joyless communist.
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Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
justifyglobal.bsky.social
On July 7, during a joint webinar with the FDA, the NIH announced it will no longer no longer seek proposals exclusively for animal models. Going forward, all new funding opportunities will include language encouraging the use of non-animal methods.
July 14, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
BREAKING 🚨 NIH will no longer issue new funding opportunities for animal-only projects. Each funding call will include consideration of non-animal methods.

#NAMs 🧪
July 7, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
Research Modernization NOW offers a clear path forward. To make its new initiative meaningful, NIH must:

🐁 Stop funding failed animal models
🔍 Conduct systematic reviews
⚖️ Weigh harms during grant review

Sign the open letter to support this plan: www.scienceadvancement.org/open-letter-...
A graphic titled “Keeping Up Momentum: What NIH Should Do Next.” There is a list of three steps accompanied by icons: “End animal use in research areas where they are poor models of humans” (mouse icon), “Conduct or commission systematic reviews on the use of animals for human biomedical research” (paper with magnifying glass icon), and “Require harm-benefit analyses of proposed experiments on animals” (balanced scales icon). ScienceAdvancement.org
May 2, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
🚨 BREAKING 🚨: After decades of relying heavily on animal models, NIH is launching a landmark initiative to prioritize human-based research technologies and reduce animal use in agency-funded projects.

A long-overdue paradigm shift in biomedical research is here. 👏 🧵 🧪
Graphic featuring an image of a lung-on-a-chip device from the Wyss Institute at Harvard ("Combining microfabrication techniques with modern tissue engineering, the lung-on-a-chip, designed by the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, offers a new in vitro approach to drug screening by mimicking the complicated mechanical and biochemical behaviors of a human lung. The lung-on-a-chip work was supported by NIH Common Fund and FDA. Wyss Institute, Harvard University.") The text over the graphic reads: "NIH to prioritize non-animal science. Following decades of advocacy, the agency is finally shaking off its animal experimenting habits and moving into the 21st century. It's the paradigm shift we've been calling for." ScienceAdvancement.org. Breaking News.
April 30, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
Mice, Empathy, and the Ethics We Ignore - a new SAO blog by @katibertrand.bsky.social

For centuries, experimenters have justified using mice by denying their emotional complexity. Three recent studies challenge that view.

www.scienceadvancement.org/reflections/... 🧵
Mice, Empathy, and the Ethics We Ignore - Science Advancement and Outreach Division
A mouse’s ability to recognize distress in others and respond with life-saving actions demonstrates that he or she is not a “furry test tube,” but a sentient being deserving of moral consideration.
www.scienceadvancement.org
April 17, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
Check out this review on complex in vitro models for #RareDisease therapeutics! 🦓 🧪

Authors from @humaneworldorg.bsky.social & academic colleagues include actionable recommendations for using policy & regulations to boost these methods.

www.frontiersin.org/journals/cel...
Frontiers | Human-based complex in vitro models: their promise and potential for rare disease therapeutics
www.frontiersin.org
April 7, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
Monkeys by the Numbers 🙈🙉🙊

Anthony Effinger at @wweek.com dives into the mounting pressure to close down the Oregon National Primate Research Center. Let's break down some key developments & figures:

www.wweek.com/news/2025/04...
Monkeys by the Numbers: An Indexed Take on the Fight Over OHSU’s Primate Center
www.wweek.com
April 2, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
An important piece by @celiaford.bsky.social on the hidden cost of animal experimentation paid by animals—but also the scientists, vets, & caretakers tasked with harming them. Academia & industry rarely talk about it, but this silence is hurting science itself. 🧵 🧪

www.vox.com/future-perfe...
The harrowing lives of animal researchers
Science depends on animal testing. But the work comes at a steep, hidden cost.
www.vox.com
March 5, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
Young female rats were strangled with a silicon band for 90s, applying force 3x their body weight. Other rats were given traumatic brain injuries by a weight propelled with pneumatic force onto the rats’ heads. Some rats received both injuries.

Horrific, @monashuniversity.bsky.social
A diagram showing the non-fatal strangulation device, from the study ‘Pathophysiology, blood biomarkers, and functional deficits after intimate partner violence-related brain injury’ led by Monash University, published in Brain, Behavior and Immunity
February 20, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
We need your help to put Research Modernization NOW into action. 🧪 U.S. scientists, medical professionals, academics, ethicists, philosophers, public health specialists, etc. 🖊️ Please sign our open letter supporting the Research Modernization NOW strategy: www.scienceadvancement.org/open-letter-...
"A call to U.S. scientists, medical professionals, academics, ethicists, philosophers, public health specialists, and other experts. Sign our open letter! Put Research Modernization Now into action."
January 31, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
CC:
@theaacr.bsky.social
@acscan.bsky.social
@su2c.bsky.social
@curetoday.bsky.social
@conquercancer.bsky.social
@ascocancer.bsky.social
@themarkfdn.bsky.social
@damonrunyon.org
@supportingswog.bsky.social
@rarecancerrf.bsky.social
@danafarber.bsky.social
ertrunnell.bsky.social Emily R. Trunnell, Ph.D. @ertrunnell.bsky.social · Feb 4
Today is #WorldCancerDay, an initiative by @uiccofficial.bsky.social to reflect, take action, and push for a future without cancer. To truly accelerate progress, we must move beyond outdated animal models and embrace modern, human-relevant research. 🧪🧵
Animated image of styled cancer cells (orange) with normal cells (burgundy) on a plum-colored background. The bottom left portion of the image contains the following text: 2.4.25 World Cancer Day Research Modernization Now serves as a roadmap for revitalizing human-relevant research and away from outdated, misleading animal models in many fields, including oncology.
February 4, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
📢 Big News! 🧪 Today, we released "Research Modernization NOW," our 2025 strategy to shift the research paradigm toward human-relevant science and away from outdated, misleading animal models of human disease.
www.scienceadvancement.org/research-mod...
#scipol
Orange and tan graphic showing the cover of the report “Research Modernization NOW.” Text on the graphic reads: “Research Modernization NOW. A roadmap for optimizing our nations’ investment in research to cure disease. ScienceAdvancement.org/RMN.”
January 27, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
Humans are similar to other primates in ways that affect how we treat & interact with them. But when it comes to genetic details critical for biomedical research, key differences make non-human primates poor stand-ins for humans. Two new findings show us why... 🧵
Side by side photographs of a human staring at a computer with their hand on their chin like they're thinking and a chimpanzee outside in the same posture.
January 6, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
This month, SAO sent comments to #NINDS on research recommendations for the AD/ADRD Summit 2025. While it previously included important goals for increased training & career development, its approach was over-reliant on animal models. Read more here: www.scienceadvancement.org/wp-content/u...
Screenshot from the linked PDF, which shows the Science Advancement & Outreach letterhead and the following title: "Request for Information (RFI): Soliciting Input on Priorities and Progress in Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementias Research (NOT-NS-24-132). Submitted by email to ADRDSummit2025@ninds.nih.gov on December 6, 2024"
December 12, 2024 at 6:28 PM
katibertrand.bsky.social
🚨 A must-watch doc by Bloomberg Investigates: The Dirty Business of Monkey Laundering

How a US gov agency set out to prove suppliers to research labs were importing wild monkeys from Cambodia with false paperwork.

It includes the great work of Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=En7B...
The Dirty Business of Monkey Laundering | Bloomberg Investigates
YouTube video by Bloomberg Originals
www.youtube.com
December 6, 2024 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
"Birch’s ultimate message in The Edge of Sentience is that a massive shift in how we view beings with a questionable sentience status should be made. And we should ideally make this change now..."
Lindsey Laughlin reviews @birchlse.bsky.social's The Edge of Sentience for @arstechnica.com:
December 4, 2024 at 6:38 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
Here's what SAO is thinking about on this #WorldAIDSDay. 100% of HIV vaccine candidates developed using animals have failed in human trials. Since only humans contract #HIV and develop #AIDS, this research must be based in human biology.
#WorldAIDSDay2024
A cartoon hand holds a red ribbon. Text reads: "World AIDS Day. Human-specific diseases require human-specific research." The Science Advancement & Outreach logo is at the top of the page.
December 1, 2024 at 6:13 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
The #NIH is accepting #grant applications for projects to generate "large scale transcriptomic and epigenomic data at the single cell/nucleus level from human brain tissue." Note the deadlines below!
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
#transcriptomics #epigenomics #omics
November 25, 2024 at 5:37 PM
katibertrand.bsky.social
Charles River Laboratories is running a “monkey laundering scheme” by importing thousands of live long-tailed macaques from Cambodia to Canada, transforming them into “specimens” at the company’s Quebec facilities, and then re-exporting them to the U.S.
montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...
Charles River labs accused of exploiting loophole to move monkeys through Canada
More than 6,800 macaques have been imported to Canada since early 2023, according to PETA — including to facilities in Quebec.
montrealgazette.com
November 25, 2024 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Kati Bertrand 🐀
ertrunnell.bsky.social
The #3Rs just aren't cutting it. We need an ethical framework that is enforceable, takes into account what we now know about animal sentience, the booming world of #NAMs, & perhaps offers a fourth "R" - Rejection.
New blog by @katibertrand.bsky.social:
www.scienceadvancement.org/reflections/...
Exposing the Gaps: How the 3Rs Fail to Protect Animals in Research - Science Advancement and Outreach Division
Exposing the Gaps: How the 3Rs Fail to Protect Animals in Research Written by Kati BertrandNovember 2024 A lot has changed since Russell and Burch defined the 3Rs—Replacement, Reduction, and Refinemen...
www.scienceadvancement.org
November 20, 2024 at 5:50 PM