Panorama Newsletter

Prague, May 30- 1 June, 2023

Dear Panorama News reader, in June we will be participating in a brand new and highly interesting event: the CELASC Conference.

CELASC, or the Central-East European Laboratory Animal Science Congress, which represents the common interests of laboratory animal science (LAS) in Europe and beyond.

The conference aims to advocate responsible scientific conduct with animals in the life sciences, with particular emphasis on ensuring animal welfare. The conference is organized by Central- East European FELASA member associations, including ARSAL (Romania), Balt-LASA (Baltic States), CLASA (Czech Republic), CroLASA (Croatia), GALAS (Georgia), HLASA (Hungary), HSBLAS (Greece), ILAF (Israel), and PolLASA (Poland).

During the conference, important LAS topics such as the 3Rs and welfare, communication, animal behavior, education and training, animal facility design, BSL 2, 3, 4 facilities, health monitoring, and severity assessment and classification will be discussed.

Keynote speakers include extraordinary opinion leaders in LAS such as Jan-Bas Prins, Director of the Biological Research Facility at the Francis Crick Institute in London, Professor of Laboratory Animal Science at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and Honorary Professor of University College London; and Anna Olsson, a researcher at i3S – University of Porto, where she coordinates the Laboratory Animal Science research group.

Tecniplast will be there with our usual important presence and stand and we will organize a couple of interesting workshops on Zebrafish and on DVC® technology.

We hope to see you at CELASC!

We had the opportunity to speak with Jan Honetschläger, the chair of the CELASC organizing and scientific committee.

Jan, we can see that there is a lot of excitement surrounding this conference. Can you tell us more about how you came up with this fantastic idea and what the objective of the conference is?

The first idea came before the FELASA congress in Prague in 2019, but the pandemic stopped the preparation. The main goals remained the same - to create a meeting that would reflect our local (Central-East European) LAS needs, enhance a culture of care in our national research communities and benefit from sharing the costs for inviting valuable speakers.

Can you provide a brief list of the benefits of participating in this conference, given that there are speakers from various parts of the world covering interesting topics?

We have an exciting mixture of speakers from organizing and friend associations. Together with current topics, e.g. animal welfare, severity assessment or communication with the public, it creates an excellent environment for networking, sharing ideas and finding creative solutions for the situations we are dealing with in our countries and institutions.

I can't help but highlight the two keynote speakers! They are such important opinion leaders in the LAS. Can you tell us what added value they bring to the conference?

I am excited that both Anna Olsson and Jan-Bas Prins accepted the invitation to come to CELASC. Their experience and presentations are always very inspiring, and I am happy that most of the organizing association members will have the possibility to meet these LAS legends in person.

Prague: what a fantastic place in June to organize an European Conference. Can you give our readers some reasons to be in Prague in June?

There's a lot to see in Prague. Prague is a "3D architecture textbook". Romanesque chapels and cellars, Gothic cathedrals, Baroque palaces and gardens, and unique Cubist architecture make it a place with no parallel in the world. And the beginning of June is the perfect time to enjoy this tour, coffee and beer under a lovely sunny sky.

LEOPOLDO ZAUNER
MARKETING & COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR - TECNIPLAST S.P.A.