The Biomedical Animal Research News (BARN) Digest collates animal research news from Concordat on Openness signatories and UAR’s 150+ member organisations into one, easy to access, feed. These animal research related stories include topics such as: medical studies and advancements; animal welfare and 3Rs news; funding, regulatory, and policy news; and conservation and environmental research that involves animal testing.
Each month, we pick the most interesting, groundbreaking, and important news to feature in a monthly news roundup.
View BARN to see daily news updates from UAR members.
BASIC/DISCOVERY RESEARCH
The cellular switch that explains why humans aren’t nocturnal
MRC LMB | MICE, MAMMALIAN CELLS
"Early mammals were nocturnal, sleeping during the day whilst large predators were active. However, after the extinction of dinosaurs, several different lineages of mammals transitioned independently to become active during the day. Exactly how this dramatic change occurred has proved elusive. A new study from John O’Neill’s group in the LMB’s Cell Biology Division has revealed a cellular switch which holds the answer.
Led by staff scientist Andrew Beale, the group studied how cells from a range of nocturnal (active at night) and diurnal (active in day) mammals, like humans, respond to environmental signals. Changes in temperature or osmolarity, as happens to the body throughout the day, caused the cells to respond in opposite ways, including in fundamental cellular functions like protein phosphorylation and protein synthesis. This divergence flips the timing of cellular activity, essentially acting as a day/night ‘switch’ at a molecular level.
The team pinpointed these differing responses to the mechanistic Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) and With-no-lysine (WNK) kinase pathways, central signalling networks in cells responsible for regulating several key functions including protein synthesis. This suggested that modification of their activity could enable nocturnal mammals to switch to more diurnal activity. To explore this hypothesis, the group administered diet-based treatments to mice to target the mTOR pathway, as mTOR activity is highly sensitive to nutrient levels. Once mTOR function was reduced, the mice began behaving more like diurnal animals, shifting their active hours into the daytime. This underlined that mTOR signalling goes beyond influencing metabolism, it also helps dictate when an animal is active."
https://mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/articles/cellular-switch-explains-why-humans-arent-nocturnal/
Engineered tissue offers hope for babies born with missing food pipe section
UCL | PIGS
"Scientists from UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital have created the first lab grown oesophagus - the food pipe - shown to safely replace a full section of the organ and restore normal function, including swallowing, in a growing animal without the need for immunosuppression.
Published in Nature Biotechnology the study shows for the first time that a pig donor oesophagus can be decellularised, repopulated with the recipient’s pig’s own cells, and implanted in a growing, large-animal model to restore function without the need for immunosuppression. The eight recipient animals recovered well, developed working swallowing muscles to squeeze food down towards the stomach, with full integration of the engineered tissue within 3 months. Immunosuppression was not needed as the implant was developed using the recipient’s cells and the tissue grew with the animals."
Early Alzheimer's increased connectivity lowered by cancer drug in the lab
KING'S COLLEGE LONDON | RATS
"Neuroscientists at King’s College London have pinpointed a mechanism behind the increased neural connectivity seen in very early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
The research, conducted in brain cells of rats, showed that low levels of the protein amyloid-beta could induce hyperconnectivity and this pattern closely resembled changes seen in the brains of people of people with Mild Cognitive Impairment. Amyloid-beta is thought to be instrumental in Alzheimer’s disease, where it creates plaques – or sticky clumps of amyloid-beta proteins – around the neurons.
These new findings suggest that low levels of amyloid-beta alone are enough to trigger early, disease-relevant changes in how brain cells connect."
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/early-alzheimers-increased-connectivity-lowered-by-cancer-drug-in-the-lab
Movies reconstructed from mouse brain activity
UCL | MICE
"Scientists have successfully reconstructed videos purely from the brain activity of mice, showing what the mice were seeing, in a new study led by UCL researchers. The findings, published in eLife, could help shed light on the intricate workings of how the brain processes visual information and open new avenues for exploring how different species perceive the world."
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2026/mar/movies-reconstructed-mouse-brain-activity
Immune protein found to play a key role in maintaining bone health
KING'S COLLEGE LONDON | MICE
"Researchers at King’s College London have discovered that an immune protein best known for protecting the body against infection also plays an important role in maintaining healthy bones.
The research published in PNAS, reveals that the protein collectin-11 supports normal bone remodelling by enabling the formation and function of osteoclasts – specialised cells responsible for breaking down old or damaged bone so that new bone can form.
Using mouse models, the researchers demonstrated that when collectin-11 is absent along with one other protein in the sequence that it activates as part of the immune response, osteoclast formation is impaired. As a result, normal bone remodelling fails, leading to the accumulation of age-related bone damage and reduced bone strength in mice."
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/immune-protein-found-to-play-a-key-role-in-maintaining-bone-health
Discovery of why only some early tumours survive could help catch and treat cancer at very earliest stages
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE | MICE
"Cambridge scientists have shown that when tumours first emerge, interactions with healthy cells in the underlying supportive tissue determine their ability to survive, grow, and progress to advanced stages of disease.
The study, carried out in mice and further validated using human tissue, may explain why some tiny, newly-formed tumours disappear, while others manage to survive and eventually grow into cancer."
New ‘molecular switch’ controlling antiviral immunity identified
UCL | MICE
"In a new study published in Nature Cell Biology, an international team led by Professor Henning Walczak (UCL Cancer Institute and the University of Cologne) and Dr Eva Rieser from the University of Cologne has identified an enzyme called "ANKIB1" which plays a key role in this process.
Experiments in cell cultures and animal models confirmed that ANKIB1 is essential for fighting viral infections. Mice lacking the enzyme were unable to produce an interferon response to herpes simplex virus I and died from the infection.
Conversely, removing ANKIB1 also protected mice in a model of severe inflammatory disease caused by too much interferon, highlighting its dual role in both protective and pathological immune responses."
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2026/mar/new-molecular-switch-controlling-antiviral-immunity-identified
DRUG DEVELOPMENT
Life-changing drug identified for children with rare epilepsy
UCL | MICE
The underlying mechanisms behind Dravet syndrome have been studied extensively in mice.
"A new experimental treatment for children with a hard-to-treat form of epilepsy is safe and can reduce seizures dramatically, helping them lead much healthier and happier lives, the findings of a UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital-led international clinical trial show."
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2026/mar/life-changing-drug-identified-children-rare-epilepsy
GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic could cut risk of major heart complications after heart attack, study finds
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL, UCL | MICE
"Weight loss drugs may help prevent further tissue damage following a heart attack, significantly reducing the risk of further life-threatening complications that affect up to half of all patients, finds a new study in mice led by UCL and University of Bristol researchers.
Published in Nature Communications, the research suggests that GLP-1 mimicking weight loss drugs could offer a promising new therapeutic approach for improving heart attack recovery.
Previous studies have shown that GLP-1 weight-loss drugs can lower the risk of serious heart problems, regardless of a person's other health conditions or the amount of weight lost.
In this study, researchers wanted to understand the mechanisms underpinning how these drugs support heart health. Building on their previous work showing that small contractile cells called pericytes constrict coronary capillaries at the onset of ischaemia, when the heart isn’t receiving enough oxygen-rich blood, the team investigated how GLP-1 might reverse these blockages."
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2026/march/glp-1-drugs.html
Clot buster may stop promising stroke medicine from working properly
UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER | MICE
"A clotbusting drug commonly used to treat ischemic stroke interacts negatively with a promising anti-inflammatory treatment (anakinra), underscoring the need to test new stroke therapies alongside existing standard care.
According to The University of Manchester led study on mice, published in the American Heart Association Stroke journal today (insert date) and funded by the Medical Research Council, the timing of anakinra must be adjusted to avoid reducing the benefits of the clot‑busting therapy known as tissue plasminogen activator(tPA)."
NON-ANIMAL TECHNOLOGIES
New centre from Imperial, Oxford and GSK will build digital twins of lungs, liver and kidneys
IMPERIAL COLLEGE | NON-ANIMAL METHODS
"A new research hub will create open-source computer models of organs to help accelerate the development of new medicines.
The Modelling-Informed Medicine Centre (MiMeC), founded by the biopharma company GSK and world-leading universities Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, will provide a new UK hub for research in the emerging modelling-informed medicine field.
The centre will create computer models or ‘digital twins’ of organs and diseases to better understand how diseases of the lungs, liver and kidneys progress, to discover and develop drugs more quickly, and to target medicines more precisely."
New ‘molecular switch’ controlling antiviral immunity identified
NC3Rs | NON-ANIMAL METHODS
"Sponsored by GSK, the NC3Rs annual international 3Rs Prize recognises both emerging and established models, tools and technologies to advance the 3Rs.
Whether you have developed a new model with the potential to replace animal studies or are driving innovation in welfare technologies to refine animal use, put your publication forward for consideration. We welcome applications from around the world, across academia and industry and spanning the medical, biological and veterinary sciences."
https://nc3rs.org.uk/news/apply-years-3rs-prize
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Last edited: 24 March 2026 10:41
