Send us a textWelcome to episode 32 of GetReal! I’m Dr. Cindy Buckmaster, your host for GetReal! and today we’re going to talk about the confound in biomedical research with animals that no one is talking about - the impact of anesthesia on study outcomes. Are findings from studies involving anesthesia always reliable? Dr. Colin Dunlop, a well known veterinary anesthesiologist and established expert in the field will share the RAW Truth with us today…on GetReal! Support the show

Send us a textToday we stop ignoring the truth about how new treatments make it to our medicine cabinets and face the hard facts…together...on GetReal! Support the show

Send us a textThere’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!Support the show

Send us a textYou 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!Support the show

Send us a textIs 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!Support the show

Send us a textGroups 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...

Send us a textThere’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 th...

Send us a textToday 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 diseas...

Send us a textBreeding 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 J...

Send us a textWhat 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 rese...

Send us a textThe 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...

Send us a textThe 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!Support the show

Send us a textIs 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! Su...

Send us a textWhy 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, breaks it down for us on today’s episode…of GetReal!Support the show

Send us a textOver 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 ...

Send us a textWhy 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.Support t...

Send us a textOnly 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 ...

Send us a textToday 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.Support the show

Send us a textThe 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 manufacturi...

Send us a textDo 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 behin...