Panorama Newsletter

Home cage monitoring in preclinical research is the use of technology to continuously monitor the behavior and welfare of laboratory animals in their home cages.

This can include using cameras, sensors, and other devices to collect data on the animals' activity levels, social interactions, and other behaviors.

The data collected can be used to assess the animals' welfare and to improve the conditions in which they are housed. It can also study animals' behavior, physiology, and neuroscience.

The use of home cage monitoring allows for a more natural and less invasive way of studying the animals, as they can move freely within their cages and interact with their environment.

Digital ventilated cages, also known as DVC®, provide several advantages over traditional cage systems in preclinical research. One advantage is that they allow for continuous monitoring of the animals' behavior and physiology.

The sensors in the cages can capture a wide range of data in the real home cage where the mice spend 99% of their time. Additionally, it is the only very scalable solution with 1.000+ cages that can be monitored simultaneously for high throughput phenotyping, cost reduction, and heightened animal welfare via AI-based assessment in cage-by-cage settings.

The knowledge of DVC® is steadily increasing across the community.

As part of the community, our team organized both an in-person event called Digital Vivarium Forum 2 and several webinars across Europe with the topic of refining models for better translatability and the highest welfare automated assessment that can be reached via automated technologies.

SERIES OF NATIONALLY ACCREDITED WEBINARS FOR SCIENTISTS/LABORATORY ANIMAL OFFICIALS OR OPERATORS

Started in 2020 during the pandemic, the work to continue promoting animal welfare and refinement, one of the 3R missions globally, reached its peak.

We performed around 10 webinars in Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, France and other countries with local hosts including national 3R centers with speakers of different variety including welfare specialists, advocacy specialists (e.g. EARA) and scientists with the main topic of how welfare and science have to go hand-in-hand.

Additionally, all the webinars offered the possibility in most cases to gain continuing education hours/credits necessary for all people working with laboratory animals to extend their permits.

2ND DIGITAL VIVARIUM FORUM

The biannual Digital Vivarium Forum revolves around the applications of DVC® in facilitating operation and saving costs, increasing animal welfare, and ultimately finding better biomarkers in pathological animal models both in academic and pharma settings.

We had a series of 25+ speakers and also commercial partnering in the field of home cage monitoring to offer a very inclusive event.

The Forum days and the culinary experience are always very well appreciated by our guests, including the Alfa Romeo Museum visit.

STEFANO GABURRO
SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR DIGILAB SOLUTIONS TECNIPLAST S.P.A.