Imperial scientist wins prize for reducing use of animals in research

Replacement, Refinement and Reduction Prize for medical researcher - News

An Imperial College London researcher has won a top prize for reducing the use of animals in her research.

Dr Charlotte Gower, from the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, has been awarded the 2007 Replacement, Refinement and Reduction (3Rs) Prize. The prize, from the National Centre for the 3Rs, is for Dr Gower's work looking into the parasites that cause schistosomiasis.

Dr Gower was presented with her GBP 10K prize by the Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Ian Pearson MP, on 16 January 2008.

This is the second time in three years that the 3Rs prize has been awarded to an Imperial College researcher. Dr Siouxsie Wiles, from the Division of Investigative Science, won the first ever 3Rs prize in 2006 for improving the welfare of mice, and reducing the number of mice needed, in work looking how potentially lethal strains of E. coli bacteria infect the body.

Dr Gower's winning 2007 study, which was carried out in Professor Joanne Webster's laboratory, looked at schistosomes, the worm-like parasites that cause the tropical disease schistosomiasis. Schistosomiasis, which is also known as bilharzia, is a debilitating disease carried by an estimated 207 million people worldwide. It can cause long term liver and intestinal damage and it can sometimes prove fatal.

Previous research looking at schistosomes has relied on collecting worm eggs from human urine or faeces and using them to infect snails and rodents, with large numbers of these being infected to obtain parasite material. Up to ten animals were needed to maintain a supply of material for every human sampled for the parasite.

The work carried out by Dr Gower and her colleagues used recent advances in storing DNA at room temperature to collect parasite DNA samples directly from infected people in areas where the disease is endemic. The team showed that using the non-animal techniques improved the results because the new techniques reflect the genetic variation in the natural population of parasites. They demonstrated that the traditional method of growing parasites could bias results by skewing this genetic variation.

Schistosomiasis is caused by parasitic infection. The natural lifecycle of the parasite involves both snail and mammalian hosts, with transmission between the two hosts occurring via a larval form in infested freshwater. Little is known about how the genetic and strain variations of the schistosome parasites in different endemic areas might affect disease patterns. A better understanding will help in combating the disease more effectively and monitoring disease control programmes which are currently ongoing in Africa.

Dr Vicky Robinson, chief executive of the NC3Rs, said: "It is hugely encouraging to see these examples of science in the UK that combine the use of the latest techniques with a reduction in the use of animals. We had a really strong field of applicants this year, and Dr Gower's elegant work can hopefully be expanded to the study of other parasites with help of her prize money."

Dr Gower's winning paper is entitled "Development and application of an ethically and epidemiologically advantageous assay for the multi-locus microsatellite analysis of Schistosoma mansoni", Parasitology,134 523Ð536, 2007.

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