CephsInAction@FELASA2016

Cephalopods as Laboratory Animals – Back to the Future

Brussels – Belgium

June 14 – 15, 2016

CephsInAction is attending the 13th FELASA Congress

The venue, Brussels, offers to the FA1301 COST Action different opportunities to celebrate the start of our third year of operation.
Brussels is the political centre of the European Union, who have innovated the Directive for the protection of animals used for research (Directive 2010/63, replacing the previous one 86/609) and that provides an historical landmark for the use of invertebrates in research. The inclusion of cephalopods – our animals – in the Directive 2010/63 as the sole representatives of invertebrates taxa.

The Venue of this meeting will be The Square, at the heart of the cultural centre of the city, and the COST Office, that is where 2.5 years ago CephsInAction moved its first steps.

Useful Indications

The occasion of the Conference is to mark the third year of the Directive 2010/63, that is aiming to create a level playing field in Europe regarding the use of animals, including an innovative approach that reflects the ambition to develop and implement 3Rs alternatives and governance. Thus, FELASA Congress appears to be of great interest to politicians, regulators and public bodies across Europe. It is expected to attract over a thousand scientists and other professionals from all over the world, because Europe is promoting “animal protection” that is at an unprecedented level.

The 13^th FELASA Congress programme will cover scientific, societal and practical aspects of a range of topics of interest for those working in this field. The main themes will address the quality and validity of animal research, how animals and humans are at risk from the same health issues, technological advances, animal welfare, harmonization and exchange of best practices, i.e. through education and training and ethical evaluation, and how all this is related to public interests. The FELASA Congress is an excellent forum for the discussion of research and research policies and strategies.

The 13^th FELASA Congress will be the occasion for the FA1301 COST Action to present the results of our first two years of initiatives and efforts dealing with such a significant change in the way we deal with Cephalopods as Laboratory Animals, to discuss within the appropriate forum the best approach to be followed to continue to enhance our presence in this international scenario, to facilitate interaction with bodies and possible sponsors and exhibitors to increase the potential of cephalopod science, to finalize the recent efforts in the standardization of the care and management of cephalopods in research.

The FA1301 WG meeting will also represent the opportunity to discuss steps forward after the meeting in Berlin and finalize the expected outcomes.

CephsInAction Contribution to FELASA 2016 and Program

FELASA2016 will host a session “Cephalopods as Laboratory Animals – Back to the Future” as part of the main Congress Program scheduled on Tuesday 14th June 2016.

The title of the session and the topics covered are perfectly tuned with the current ‘role’ of our animals due to the Directive 2010/63, and their recognized long-standing and perhaps turbulent scientific history. The session (OD1S) is included in the Stream D (On the safe side: dealing with topics regarding animal health and well being management including consideration of procedures that should follow best practices and including topics such as health monitoring, best practices for procedures, animals husbandry and care, noise, etc.).

CephsInAction Contribution to FELASA 2016 and Program

Experiments with Cephalopods: from best practice and protocols to ‘procedures’
Training and education in cephalopods
A possible Welfare Index Model for octopus
Current knowledge and challenges to fulfil nutritional requirements in cephalopods
Cephalopods as Laboratory Animals: from classical ‘use’, to Guidelines and towards mandated minima
Training and certification for the collection of wild cephalopods
Prospective severity assessment in cephalopods: Results of an on-line survey of the COST Action FA1301 cephalopod research community
What do we know about cephalopods housing? Impact of Directive 2010/63/EU on cephalopod research

The FA1301 CephsInAction@FELASA will also include a WGs meeting (June 15)

Aims of the WG meeting will be

to review the state of the art of the application of Guidelines for the Care and Welfare of Cephalopods in Research, the improvement of experimental practices, and the impact of the transposition of Directive 2010/63/EU in different countries, including those not EU;
to report on the state of the art of the preparation of the white-paper (expected outcome from Berlin meeting last January) on suggested mandate minima in terms of the environmental, biological and behavioral needs of different cephalopod species to increase success of caring, maintenance, growth and rearing also aimed to reduce stress and increase welfare in research and aquaculture establishments;
to contribute to adequate education and training for the use of cephalopods as laboratory animals, including appropriate training and certification for the collection of cephalopods from wild [this will be discussed during FELASA session and introduced by Joao and Viola, but we will continue discussion during the WG];
to contribute to the development and application of a consensus in the Severity Assessment of procedures, in compliance with Directive 2010/63/EU [see poster below and expected report that we will discuss during the WG];
to highlight research priorities for the evaluation of cephalopods well-being and health status, their use in procedures and humane-killing, thus providing guidance for researchers, veterinarians and regulators.

DETAILED REPORT OF THE TWO DAYS WILL APPEAR HERE SHORTLY

The participation of SMEs collaborating with our COST Action will provide further possibilities to networking and increase our impact.

CephsInAction Goals for the grant period to be considered for this meeting

Monitoring the impact of the transposition of Directive 2010/63/EU and MFSD in EU Member States and COST countries.

Monitoring and assist the application of “Guidelines for the Care and Welfare of Cephalopods in Research” and the improvement of experimental practices in EU Member States, COST countries and abroad.

Fostering networking initiatives to enlarge and encompass the cephalopod community by increasing interaction with other scientific communities, veterinarians and regulators with the aim to significant improve policies for the use of animals in research and other contexts.

Contribute to the development of knowledge on care, rearing, environmental and nutritional requirements of different cephalopod species to increase success and best practice and to facilitate the standardization and increase animals’ welfare thus contributing to the development of species-specific guidelines.

Further increase knowledge on behavioral, biological and physiological indicators of welfare for cephalopods.

Development and promotion of the use of alternatives to live animals in research and of the use of non-invasive approaches.

Provide guidance and increase of knowledge on the identification of diseases, signs of stress and damage of any origin in cephalopods.

Development of monitoring tools – including the use of online databases as guidance and inventory of alternatives – for assessment of health status of cephalopods, thus facilitating the improvement of knowledge for management of their welfare, and providing guidance for researchers, veterinarians and regulators.

Facilitate the increase of the current effort/interest for physiology and neurophysiological studies on cephalopods with the aim of increasing networking, inclusiveness and improve knowledge on animals’ welfare.

Improvement of the knowledge of the trophic relationship of cephalopods with other organisms, and their responses to natural and human-generated sound, to evaluate the impact on animals? welfare and behavior in compliance with Directive 2010/63/EU and MSFD.

Facilitate the refinement and the application of a consensus in Severity Assessment of procedures utilized with cephalopods in compliance with Directive 2010/63/EU.

Further development of the CephsInAction Cephalopod Welfare Index Model (CWI) to facilitate the best-practice in the identification of animals’ behavioral, biological and physiological needs in order to determine indicators of cephalopods welfare.

Increase Dissemination and Educational activities.

Establish EU accredited Training School Program for Cephalopod Biology and Care in compliance with Directive 2010/63/EU and the “Working document on the development of a common education and training framework to fulfill the requirements under the Directive 2010/63/EU” endorsed at EU level by the NCAs.

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