Finnish 3Rs Annual Symposium

We invite everyone (researchers, technicians, caretakers) involved in biomedical research with animal models and cell culture-based novel approaches to hear top level presentations by international and national experts on implementing 3R principles in practice. Attending the symposium supports your continuing professional development (CPD).

Early Career Researchers - use the opportunity to brush up your skill and knowledge in power analysis and experimental design in two dedicated workshops (WS). Note: Places for the workshops are limited. Each workshop can accommodate 16-20 participants. Reserve your space in advance! You can earn additional study credits by presenting your work at the symposium (either short oral communication or poster).

Abstract submission is open here. We accept abstracts for oral presentations from doctoral researchers, post docs and PIs until 30 September and for posters until 1 November. Abstracts selected for oral presentations will be announced on 11 October.

WORKSHOPS

Monday, 4 November 2024 (room 487B)

13.00-16.00 Power analysis - Petteri Piepponen (University of Helsinki, Finland)

We will have some hands-on power analysis exercises in the workshop, so please bring your laptop along, and install the G*Power software beforehand. G*Power is a tool to compute statistical power analyses for many different t tests, and it is available from the University of Dusseldorf for free for both Mac and Windows. You can download the program from here.

Registration for the Power Analysis Workshop is open until 18 October 2024. To register, click here.

Tuesday, 5 November 2024 (room 487B)

9.00-12.00 What’s in a hypothesis? What are exploratory and confirmatory studies, and why is it important to be able to tell the difference? - Otto Kalliokoski (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

In this workshop, we will together look at why formulating a clear hypothesis matters. What happens if we get things wrong? We will use some real-life examples to look at the fundamental differences between exploratory and confirmatory studies. What is the nature of the study you are planning currently? Through some light group discussion, I hope to highlight that the devil really is in the details. You may even look at published studies somewhat differently afterwards.

During this three-hour session, we will talk about how we formulate a hypothesis (which is a lot harder than many researchers think!). We will also briefly talk about future trends. How can we do things better? How do we go about pre-registering a study? What are registered reports?

The workshop has no pre-requisites, but it will primarily benefit those who work with – or aim to work with – creating their own studies. PhD students or professors – everyone can benefit from giving their hypotheses some extra thought. Kindly bring a laptop or tablet to the workshop (a phone will do in a pinch) as there will be interactive elements to the session. The workshop will be in English, but questions can also be asked in Finnish.

Registration for the Experimental Design Workshop is open until 18 October 2024. To register, click here.

SYMPOSIUM

Tuesday, 5 November 2024 (101A, Leena Palotie Hall)

Session 1

Chair: Mikko Airavaara (University of Helsinki, Finland)

13:15-13:30 Welcoming words from the organizers

13:30-14:00 Integrated approaches in toxicology and pharmacology - Dario Greco (University of Tampere, Finland)

14:00-14:30 Anesthetic influence on cerebrospinal fluid dynamics in rodents - Daniel Persson (University of Helsinki, Finland)

14:30-15:15 Coffee and Posters

15:15-15:30 Short oral presentations from abstracts

15:30-16:00 Breeding of laboratory animals - complexities around simple biology - Thorsten Buch (University of Zurich, Switzerland)

Wednesday, 6 November 2024 (101A, Leena Palotie Hall)

Session 2

Chair: Johanna Englund (University of Helsinki, Finland)

9:00-9:35 Refining models of cardiac fibrosis, from mice to dish - Andreas Romaine (University of Oslo, Norway)

9:35-10:05 Modelling liver complexity with organoids - Anna Dowbaj (Max Planck Institute of Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany)

10:05-10:35 Coffee Break

Session 3

Chair: Vootele Voikar (University of Helsinki, Finland)

10:35-11:10 The 3Hs initiative: Housing, Handling and Habituation methods for rodents - Megan Jackson (University of Bristol, UK)

11:10-11:40 Mastering Mouse Habituation and its Effects on Biomedical Research Outcomes - Julia Swan (University of Eastern Finland, Finland)

11:40- 12:00 Short oral presentations from abstracts

12:00-13:30 Lunch and Posters

Session 4

Chair: Hanna-Marja Voipio (University of Oulu, Finland)

13:30-14:05 The LAG-R guidelines, a framework for standardizing and improving laboratory animal genetic reporting - Guillaume Pavlovic (Institut Clinique de la Souris, France)

14:05-14:35 Refinement of preclinical research - a focus on experimental design - Gillian Currie (University of Edinburgh, UK)

14:35-15:20 KEYNOTE: How common are fraudulent animal studies and how do they impact us? - Otto Kalliokoski (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

15:20-15.30 Discussion and closing words

Registration for the symposium

Registration for the Symposium is open until 1 November 2024. To register, click here.

For additional information and questions, please contact Reetta Hinttala at reetta.hinttala@oulu.fi.

Organized by: 3R Centre Finland, Fin3R; Animal Welfare Body of Oulu Laboratory Animal Centre; Biocenter Oulu; Profi6 Fibrobesity profiling programme; Health and Biosciences Doctoral Programme, University of Oulu Graduate School

Organizing committee: Reetta Hinttala, Mikko Airavaara, Johanna Englund, Anne Heikkinen, Satu Kuure, Sakari Laaksonen, Vootele Voikar and Hanna-Marja Voipio.