Panorama Newsletter

Dr Kevin Davies is EVP/Executive Editor, The CRISPR Journal, published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. He is the founding editor of Nature Genetics and the author of several books on the genomics.

Kevin recently moderated an interesting webinar on home cage monitoring titled “Accelerating Animal Model Research by Leveraging Home Cage Monitoring”.

The Webinar discussed the latest scientific work performed with the Tecniplast DVC® System and what has been done in terms of data replicability, animal welfare and better science with 24/7 locomotor activity data.

What do you think about this new System as an editor and former researcher?

It’s been more than 30 years since I last worked with lab mice as a graduate student in London. I don’t miss those days too much! But I’m really impressed with the technology innovation behind Tecniplast’s DVC® system. That came through loud and clear in the various presentations and the flood of questions we received.

Three different speakers showed the added value of the DVC® and how home cage monitoring can improve the value for better research reporting and reproducibility, while potentially reducing stress in lab mice, ultimately accelerating research results. Do you agree?

I’ll take their word for it! What I really appreciated was how we heard from investigators in different countries - France, Italy, The Netherlands - working on different models and diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative disease, but all were benefiting from the DVC® platform.

Which one of the 3 speakers do you think hit the spot with the audience in showing how DVC® is a fantastic tool to improve analysis, understanding, welfare and data reproducibility of your animal models?

I couldn’t choose between them. One question in particular caught my attention: is the system applicable for the study of rats? I was pleased to hear that Tecniplast is working on this, which I expect will be an important step forward for the product and the company.

Was the webinar a successful webinar from your experience?

Yes, we had more than 650 registered attendees, and I expect that number will grow with “on demand” viewings over the next few months. For a relatively “dry” subject, that is a very impressive number.

Registered participants appreciate the quality of the Mary Ann Liebert Platform. Can you list 3 reasons why?

We work with a trusted webinar partner so the webinar is a good experience for speakers and attendees. As a publisher of more than 90 scientific and medical journals, we can tailor our promotion to a large global audience and we enjoy working with committed and enthusiastic partners like Tecniplast.

When you are not moderating webinars, what are your main responsibilities?

Much of my time is spent running The CRISPR Journal, which debuted in 2018. I also serve as an editorial advisor and occasional writer for GEN; I just finished a long story on the top 25 pandemic warning signs that were missed in the U.S. And I’m finishing a new book on CRISPR and genome editing, called Editing Humanity, which will be published later this year.

LEOPOLDO ZAUNER
MARKETING DIRECTOR, TECNIPLAST S.P.A.