Department of Internal Diseases and Clinical Diagnostics of Animals
The cooperation with Odessa State Agrarian University began thanks to the Dean of the university, Mikhail Broshkov, who contacted InterNICHE coordinator Nick Jukes. As a representative of the young progressive generation, Prof Broshkov was looking for modern humane approaches to student teaching such as computer programmes, videos and models of animals and their organs. Nick Jukes put Prof Broshkov in touch with Dmitriy Leporskiy, InterNICHE representative in Ukraine.
We had already provided the Department of Physiology, Pathophysiology and Biochemistry with animal-free teaching materials and equipment. The agreement with this Department was signed on 9 February 2021. Since 1 September 2021, animal experiments have no longer been carried out in the course of Animal Physiology, saving 128 frogs and 28 rats from death every year.
The next department that decided to replace the experiments was the Department of Internal Diseases and Clinical Diagnostics of Animals. With the collapse of the USSR and the loss of funding, the number of animal experiments decreased. However, some experiments, in particular the effect of various pharmacological compounds on guinea pigs, rabbits, rats and other animals, required their replacement. The development of distance learning in Ukraine, which has become even more relevant since the Russian attack on Ukraine, is also stimulating the transition to non-animal methods.
In February 2023, the Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Diagnostics of Animals signed the agreement. From 1 September 2023, experiments on 80 vertebrate animals will no longer be carried out in the Veterinary Pharmacology degree programme. The department received an interactive whiteboard from us for this purpose.
Head of Department Dr Vladimir Kushnir and Dean Dr Ekaterina Kuznetsova with the whiteboard. Head of Department signing the contract.
Signing the agreement.