 Hi everyone, we are back again to talk about interesting animal research news stories from March 2022. This month's biggest news story comes from the United States where a six month old baby became the first ever person to receive a combined heart and thymus transplant. Baby Eastern was born with a weak heart and problems with his immune system. Last summer the FDA granted special permission for doctors to carry out the first ever combined heart and thymus transplant. Research in mice has shown that a thymus transplant from the same donor as the heart can help prevent organ rejection. Therefore doctors are hoping that baby Eastern can slowly be weaned off anti-organ rejection drugs which can cause long-term damage to transplanted organs. Researchers in the United States have treated healthy mice with a form of gene therapy that refreshed older cells and made the animals more youthful. It's hoped that this research will lead to the development of new therapies that aim to slow or reverse the aging process in a bid to tackle age-related diseases such as cancer, brittle bones and Alzheimer's. An experimental treatment has eradicated cancer in mice in just six days. The treatment was carried out by implanting tiny beads near the site of a tumor in mice with advanced ovarian or colorectal cancer. The beads deliver a continuous dose of the protein interleukin-2 which causes immune cells to detect and fight cancer. If administered at the same dose intravenously the protein would cause severe side effects. However this new technology allows the protein to be delivered to a very specific part of the body without causing toxic side effects. The 2022 Brain Prize has been awarded to an international group of researchers for their pioneering work in understanding how neurons in the spinal cord and brainstem control movement and posture. Some of the research was carried out in rodents and will help improve our understanding of how movement is lost in conditions such as Parkinson's and motor neuron disease. And lastly UKRI, one of the UK's largest funders of research, has announced that from now on grants will only be awarded to animal research projects that use both sexes of animal unless a robust justification is given. In general a lack of female representation in both animal studies and human clinical trials has led to drugs and treatments that are inadequate for women. It's also important to note that UKRI has stated that the use of appropriate statistical analysis should avoid any increase in animal numbers. That's it from us this month. If you're looking for more info on animal research take a look at our website or you can follow us on social media.