Odessa State Agricultural University
Department of Physiology, Pathophysiology and Biochemistry
The history of the relationship with Odessa State Agrarian University began when Rector Mikhail Broshkov contacted Nick Jukes from InterNICHE. As a representative of a young, progressive and open-minded generation, he was looking for modern, humane approaches to higher education. Nick Jukes put him in touch with Dimitrij Leporskij and a Skype exchange followed. Prof Broshkov showed great interest in introducing a wide range of software, models and simulators. Initially, it was agreed to equip the Department of Physiology, Pathophysiology and Biochemistry with animal-free teaching materials. In February 2020, Dimitrij Leporskij visited Odesa and met an open-minded team of university teachers who are genuinely interested in positive change.
The dean of the department, Vasil Naida, recalled the times of the USSR when they carried out experiments on farm and domestic animals. For example, the Pavlovian experiments were popular. This involved operating a fistula into the stomach of dogs to collect gastric juice. Shortly after the collapse of the USSR, funding was discontinued, which greatly reduced the number of animal experiments carried out in the curriculum. Today, a few demonstration experiments on frogs remain.
Not least due to the introduction of distance learning, such practices are now obsolete. In addition, all experiments can easily be replaced by animal-free teaching materials.
The Department of Physiology, Pathophysiology and Biochemistry received a laptop, a projector and a large number of CD's and DVD's. According to the agreement signed on 9 February 2021, animal experiments should no longer be carried out in the ‘Animal Physiology’ course from 1 September 2021. To date, 128 frogs and 28 rats have been killed each year. In addition to the classic frog experiments on nerve, muscle and heart physiology, parts of the brain were removed from frogs and the effect of insulin was studied on rats.
It was agreed that as soon as the department has successfully implemented the donated teaching materials in the curriculum, other departments would follow suit.
From left to right: Natalia Stepanova, Assistant at the Department of Microbiology, Jury Boiko, Professor at the department of Physiology, Pathophysiology and Biochemistry, Katerina Radionova, Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vasil Naida, Dean of the Department of Physiology, Pathophysiology and Biochemistry, Maria Khimich, Professor at the Department of Veterinary Hygiene.