Today we stop ignoring the truth about how new treatments make it to our medicine cabinets and face the hard facts…together...on GetReal!

There’s no such thing as compassion fatigue and we should drop it from our vocabulary immediately! This term, along with most of the others used to describe the emotions we battle when working with research animals, just makes things worse. Confused? Our guest from the Two Truths episode, Lisa Kelly, returns today to spell it out for us…on GetReal!

You may find this surprising, but biomedical research with animals isn’t only necessary for improving human and animal lives. It’s also critical for protecting our food supply and our economy. How so? Dr. Maggie Behnke, Attending Veterinarian for the USDA National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, joins us today to lay out the facts…on GetReal!

Is love for animals what truly drives the animal rights movement? How did this movement begin and what is its ultimate goal? Patti Strand, President and Founder of the National Animal Interest Alliance, has been studying this movement and sharing her findings publicly for decades. She’ll break it all down for us today…on GetReal!

Groups opposed to research with animals insist that studies with monkeys are irrelevant to human health and disease, and that all of these animals should be retired to sanctuaries. Those who believe these groups consider this to be a perfect plan; but is it? Surely a sanctuary would be an ideal place for retired research monkeys to spend the rest of their lives; but would it? Scott Kubisch, Director and Founder of Peaceable Primates Sanctuary, will lay out the facts for us today…on GetReal!

There’s a lot of discussion these days about the “reproducibility crisis” in science and how that may be delaying the medical advances we seek for ourselves and our loved ones. Today we’re going to talk about what may be the number one reason for why more than half of the research findings from animal studies are questionable. The animals on study are hardly ever as healthy as we think. And you can’t get clean results from dirty research models. How did we get here and what’s the solution moving forward? Dr. Ken Henderson, Senior Director for Laboratory Services with Charles River Laboratories will break it down for us today…on GetReal!

Today we’ll catch up with Trina who lost her beautiful boy, Austin, to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy two years ago. It turns out that her journey with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy isn’t over yet because, contrary to popular belief, girls and women are also affected by this devastating and deadly disease. But the scientific and medical communities have ignored this fact for decades. Well, Trina has had enough! And she’s on a mission to put girls and women with this rare disease on the research calendar. We’ll discuss this and more with her today on GetReal!

Breeding research mice responsibly is not as easy as it sounds. Every day, animal lives are wasted and biomedical discovery is compromised because colony management has simply become too complex for human beings to do well. So…we should STOP DOING IT! Our partners at Transnetyx have developed tools that are available right now that make our critical research with rodents less wasteful, more productive…and more meaningful. We’ll learn about some of them from Bob Bean and Jessie Janeczek today on GetReal!

What would you do if you worked with research animals and you were certain they could receive better care than they were getting? A lot of people would probably just get frustrated and complain about it. They might even feel hopeless enough to resign. But what if you could find better ways for folks to care for their animals and their science, and actually help them change things for the better? Would you find the time to do that for your organization? What about the entire research community? Our guest today is Gennifer Caesar and she’s decided to go large with this concept. She’ll share her journey and her ideas with us today… on GetReal!

The fate of dogs in classic biomedical research studies is more questionable than ever. So, what are our options? Can we keep up with the demand for new treatments with fewer dogs in biomedical research? Our guest today is Dr. Veronica Maldonado. Dr. Maldonado is an ACLAM Boarded Laboratory Animal Veterinarian with a PhD in Immunology who has worked directly with animals involved in drug development for over 25 years. She’s passionate about caring for research animals, but she’s equally passionate about finding ways to reduce the need for them in biomedical studies…especially dogs. And she has a plan…we’ll discuss this and more…on today’s episode…of GetReal!

The final inspection report by the USDA on May 3, 2022 revealed no serious animal health concerns at the Envigo/Inotiv research dog breeding facility in Cumberland, VA. So why did they close and how might this impact public health moving forward? Joining us today is a member of the Inotiv team who will share the details no one has been able to access until now...on GetReal!

Is it possible that thousands of Americans have been programmed to harm themselves and everyone they love without realizing it? Are they fighting passionately for something that’s actually an illusion - an illusion deliberately designed to exploit their natural love of animals - for the personal gain of those directing them? Tom Leach, an attorney and leader in research advocacy and education, joins us today to help me break it down for you on today’s episode of GetReal!

Why we are we still doing research with animals when there are several human relevant, non-animal alternatives available to us right now that can be used to develop new medical treatments? Dr. Megan LaFollette, Program Director of the North American 3Rs Collaborative (NA3RsC), breaks it down for us on today’s episode…of GetReal!

Over 95% of the animals we rely on for medical advances are rodents and most of them live, and are studied, in stressful environments that compromise our ability to learn from them. Investigations by animal welfare scientists reveal that research rodents are typically CRAMPED: Cold, Rotund, Abnormal, Male-biased, Poorly surviving, Enclosed, and Distressed. And it has been suggested that this may partly explain why studies with rodents don’t translate as well as they could to bring us the medical treatments we and our loved ones are hoping for. But can we do better? Our guest today is Dr. Harry Knot, once a researcher and IACUC member himself, who is currently the CEO of TSE Systems. He is completely convinced that we CAN do better and he will share some innovative solutions for how…on GetReal!

Why are biomedical researchers under so much pressure to produce, produce, produce? And does this pressure accelerate or delay meaningful progress for new treatments and cures? Our guest today came to us through the GetReal! website. She is a PhD student of cancer immunology who has a lot to share about her concerns, frustrations...and her hope for the future of medical advances requiring research with animals. Gloves off, animal lovers. It's time to tell it like it is.

Only five percent of the drugs developed and tested with animals actually make it to market. Groups that oppose research with animals continue to tell lawmakers and the general public that this is no surprise because animals are worthless as models for the human condition? They argue that we are just too different from nonhuman animals for anything of medical value to translate to people. And they insist that we can learn all there is to know to treat and cure disease in people by using non-animal technologies that are more “human relevant”. But is this true? Joining us today to start our discussions on this topic is Dr. Adrian Smith, a pioneer in laboratory animal welfare and a valued partner to the biomedical research community…and everyone else who cares deeply about animals and people.

Today we’ll discuss climate change, biotoxins, marine life, and how this all came together in the incredible and heart-warming story of Cronutt, the intractably epileptic sea lion. It’s a story of exploration, perseverance and love. And it’s a story of hope - brought to us and everyone we love - by decades of foundational and translational research with animals.

The vast majority of animals involved in biomedical research studies today are rodents, mainly mice. And the scientific information that comes from most of them is questionable because of a source of variability that is often overlooked by the research community - the bedding in their cages. Joining us today to break down the 'what', 'why' and 'what can be done' to protect rigor and reproducibility at the cage level, is Joel Shepherd, an expert in rodent bedding manufacturing who has worked closely with the biomedical research community for over thirty years.

Do you know anyone struggling with Alzheimer's Disease (AD)? Any friends or family? The chances are high that you do. One in nine Americans over 65 suffer with AD currently and case numbers continue to rise each year. This is not surprising, given that the number of Americans over 65 is also rising annually. But did you know that women are almost twice as likely as men to develop this devastating disease? Women also tend to experience more severe symptoms than men. What is behind these sex differences, and how may understanding the complex biological mechanisms that drive them inform differential treatment strategies for men and women suffering with AD?

Dr. Agnes Lacreuse at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has developed a very promising marmoset model to explore these questions and more - but her research is under attack by PETA. And, like PETA's campaign against Dr. Elisabeth Murray (discussed previously in our Roadmap to Mental Health episode), PETA's claims are misleading and dangerous to public health. Joining us today to break down the actual facts is a colleague who is directly familiar with Dr. Lacreuse's marmoset studies and an expert in her own right on research related to brain changes and aging in women. I have chosen to keep her anonymous for her protection.

Over 95% of the animals involved in biomedical research are mice. These animals are incredibly important models for human disease because 85% of the genes that drive biological function in people and mice are identical, so genetic contributions to human disease can be strongly inferred by manipulating mouse genes. Large litters and short lifespans (about 2 years) also give us a unique opportunity to study disease and age progression across hundreds of mice in a single study. It's hard to overstate the value of research mice for understanding health and disease in people and other animals, but there are variables lurking within them that can throw study findings into a tailspin if we aren't watching. What are these "reproducibility" snatchers? And how can we manage them to drive the strongest science possible? Todd Little, an expert in mouse models of human disease, will give us the RAW Truth today - on GetReal!