Rodent Little Brother: Secret Lives of Mice

Meet the team

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MRC Harwell

Part of the Medical Research Council, MRC Harwell in Oxfordshire is an International Centre for Mouse Genetics to investigate the relationship between genes and disease. Most diseases have a genetic component and studying genes in mice can reveal important insights into the function of genes in humans.

Further information can be found here
Follow us at @MRCHarwell

Sara Wells

Sara Wells is the Director of the Mary Lyon Centre at MRC Harwell. The Mary Lyon Centre is a National Facility for Mouse Genetics. The Centre supports the research of scientists throughout the UK as well as large global programmes such as the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC). We are currently involved in many biomedical projects looking into the genetic cause of diseases of ageing, metabolism and neurology.

Sonia Bains

Sonia Bains is the Phenotyping Technical Developer at the Mary Lyon Centre.

"I have studied animal behaviour for over 12 years, but for the past four years that I have been working on this project, hardly a week has gone by when I don’t learn something new about mice. I feel that there is still so much we don’t know, and through this project you will be helping us combine the power of citizen science and cutting edge technology to bring about a step change in the way mice are studied and cared for in research environments."

Mark Gardiner

Mark Gardiner is the Operations Manager in the Mary Lyon Centre has been working within the field of animal technology for thirty two years. Mark is responsible for the daily functioning of the animal facility and ensuring that a high culture of animal care is maintained at all times.

"I feel the citizen science project is great opportunity for us to share how we care for the animals at MRC Harwell and the important role the mouse has in advancing our scientific knowledge in behaviour and the study of disease. The opportunity to share our research work and involve citizen science members I hope will help to educate individuals not only in mouse research but also enable them to play a key role in helping us in evaluate mouse behaviour."

Henrik Westerberg

Henrik Westerberg is the Head of Bioimage Informatics at MRC Harwell. Henrik has been visualising and analysing data collected from mice for 10 years.

"Now is an exciting opportunity to use Artificial Intelligence to speed up data analysis and increase our understanding of mouse behaviour. This project, which you will be part of, will enable us to train the first neural networks to do precisely this."

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NC3Rs

The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) is a leading independent scientific organisation dedicated to replacing, refining and reducing the use of animals in research and testing (the 3Rs). It supports the UK science base by driving and funding innovation and technological developments that minimise the need for animals in research and testing, and lead to improvements in welfare where animals continue to be used. It funds research, supports training and development, and stimulates changes in regulations and practice.

Primarily funded by Government, the NC3Rs is also supported by the charitable and private sectors. It works with scientists in universities and industry in the UK and internationally.

Further information can be found here
Follow us at @nc3rs

Anthony Holmes

Anthony Holmes is the NC3Rs Director of Science and Technology. Anthony has strategic oversight of the science and technology supported through NC3Rs; ensuring that the NC3Rs has a long-term and sustainable strategy for supporting the best science and technology and its use in practice to achieve 3Rs and wider scientific and economic benefits. He also leads the CRACK IT open innovation programme.

Cathy Vickers

Cathy Vickers is the NC3Rs Head of Innovation and leads the CRACK IT Challenges Programme.