Panorama Newsletter

About Dr Andrina Zbinden

During her doctoral thesis in veterinary medicine at the University of Bern, followed by a specialization in laboratory‑animal science, Dr Zbinden gained insight into how the lives of animals can be improved through proper handling, housing, and overall care. She is convinced that experimental research is the field where her expertise can have the greatest impact. For this reason, in 2011 she joined the University of Fribourg in its first animal‑welfare position. This university is notable for housing a wide variety of species.

Could you introduce the concept of “Culture of Care”?

In animal experimentation, many countries are adopting the 3Rs principle (Reduce, Refine, Replace). These principles drive improvements in animal welfare but focus primarily on the animals themselves and the experiments.

The Culture of Care complements the 3Rs through a commitment to go beyond regulatory requirements, extending the perspective to the broader environment, including personal interactions with the animals. It asks how to create an optimal research and working atmosphere. Another goal is to improve communication among researchers, animal caretakers, veterinarians, and animal-welfare officers. While integrating the 3Rs, the Culture of Care aims to provide more holistic guidance and contribute to an improved research environment for both animals and staff.

In other words, the Culture of Care acts as a Code of Conduct in daily research, promoting the principles of the 3Rs beyond legal requirements. By committing to it, institutions aim to improve animal welfare, research quality, staff satisfaction, and public trust.

How does the Culture of Care translate into research?

In Switzerland, the Culture of Care group created a charter that institutions can sign. The charter offers practical suggestions for developing a Culture of Care that incorporates the principles of the 3Rs.

Institutions that sign the charter commit to implementing these recommendations wherever feasible. The charter also makes a strong statement that animal experimentation should be conducted with attention to four key principles:

• Caring

• Accountability

• Respect

• Excellence

Why a Culture of Care group for zebrafish?

The Swiss Culture of Care group noticed that most existing activities focused on mice, while the use of zebrafish in experimental research was rapidly increasing in Switzerland. Consequently, a specific Zebrafish Refinement Group was established to develop species-specific guidelines to fill this gap.

The Zebrafish Refinement Group is actively refining how zebrafish are housed, handled, and cared for. It brings together animal-welfare officers, facility managers, and researchers to obtain a 360° view of experimental practices, share information and experience, and develop guidelines.

The first three working areas have been defined:

• Housing and Enrichment – explores ways to improve housing conditions with a particular focus on enrichment.

• Anaesthesia, Analgesia, and Euthanasia – evaluates best practices for anaesthetic and pain management.

• Monitoring of Genetically Modified (GM) Animals – discusses rational severity assessment of GM zebrafish lines, including generation tracking and key parameters to ensure animal well-being.

The GM topic illustrates how a technical issue becomes a question of Culture of Care: clear guidance on evaluating GM lines helps to better assess genetic constraints on animals, improves reproducibility, and supports animal caretakers and researchers in providing appropriate care.

These working groups aim to produce dedicated guidelines for institutions and for the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, with a first set of recommendations expected within the next year.

Is the Culture of Care, alongside animal and personnel welfare, important for research?

Absolutely. Better animal conditions and standardised procedures reduce variability among individuals, enhance the translatability of experiments, and reinforce the 3R principles. For example, improved analgesia protocols lower mortality rates, thereby decreasing the total number of animals required. Healthier, well-treated animals also generate fewer outlier data points, further contributing to reduction.

Overall, implementing good practices that advance animal welfare directly supports higher-quality science.

Do you see any other possible reflections about animal research?

When conducting animal experiments, it is crucial to accurately assess the severity of each procedure. There are ongoing discussions on how to refine severity evaluations. In my opinion, this should allow a clear understanding of an experiment’s actual impact on the animal.

For instance, exploring the possibility of more nuanced severity ratings could help determine whether severe distress arises from a specific experimental procedure itself—highlighting potential areas for refinement—or from accumulated lower-level constraints that could be mitigated through recovery periods or improved care and housing.

A finer granularity in severity assessment would enable better management of animal suffering and reinforce the 3Rs.

The Culture of Care is not a detailed guideline, but rather a framework identifying areas where continuous improvement is possible.