Studying dogs

UW–Madison researchers study animals only when there is no other way to answer important questions about the biology of complex living organisms. While dogs have made up a very small proportion of animals in studies at UW–Madison, that research has addressed important health concerns. Dogs have been vital to UW–Madison studies of cancer treatment and prevention, organ transplants, vaccines and more that have benefited both human and animal patients.

Alzheimer’s sleep research

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and University of Massachusetts Amherst are collaborating on a study of marmoset monkeys to learn about the role poor sleep plays in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, debilitating disorders that often result in deadly complications. Learn more here.

Primate studies supported 40-year-old PCB ban

When the Environmental Protection Agency banned polychlorinated biphenyls — industrial compounds once used widely in coolants and electrical insulators — in April of 1979, they were relying on the results of studies in animals that linked PCBs to dire health consequences including cancer, problems with conception, disruption of the nutrients in maternal milk and reduced cognitive abilities in offspring. Much of that work was done studying monkeys at the Wisconsin National Primate Center, and UW–Madison findings informed reference levels for PCB contamination that still guide cleanup at sites around the United States.

Hibernating Squirrels and the Government Shutdown

Hannah Carey’s lab studies how hibernating squirrels slow their metabolisms to fall into their seasonal torpor — and then speed it back up to go about their squirrel lives during the warm months. Her work could help humans extreme in extreme conditions. But the trick to studying hibernation is that happens when it happens, and disrupting scheduled research for an unscheduled government shutdown — as Carey, a comparative bioscience professor, explains in Scientific American — could cost taxpayers the fruits of the science they’re funding.

PETA bus ads target animal research

University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers study animals, including monkeys like the one depicted in an advertisement on a Madison bus, to learn about human disease and to explore basic biological processes. Alternatives to animals are always considered before research begins, and whenever possible methods without animals are used. However, animals remain the only way to study many vital aspects of human and animal health. UW–Madison scientists rely on animal studies to design new treatments and advance our knowledge of AIDS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, dangerous infections like influenza, many types of cancer and more. All animal research on campus includes the attention of skilled veterinarians. All animal research is closely reviewed and regulated by our animal care and use committee and several federal agencies. Everyone benefits from what scientists have learned from these studies. Where there is a better way, UW–Madison researchers use it. To exclude animals from research would leave us without …