News & Views Fish Health Research
Nofima researchers win animal research prize

Researchers Carlo C. Lazado and Elisabeth Ytteborg were awarded the Norecopa 3R Prize for their efforts to advance strategies for reducing the number of laboratory animals in fish health studies. 

Lazado and Ytteborg, who work at Nofima in Tromsø, Norway, have developed techniques for measuring the health of salmon without killing the fish first. They used in vitro models to measure responses to stimuli in cells in the lab, instead of in live fish. They also base projects on fish that are already in trials for more efficient use of data and research inputs. 

“Many projects are undertaken concurrently with each other and apply related approaches to research on fish in Norway,” Lazado explains. “In a major in-house project, we therefore involved colleagues from multiple disciplines and diverse approaches. We collaborated with existing projects to gain insights into and increase the value of studies that were already in progress. As a result, we were able to make more efficient use of the fish already in the research trial, but also gained access to more analyses for testing our hypotheses.”

The Norecopa prize, which awarded virtually during Norecopa’s general meeting, is a diploma and NOK 30,000 (about US $3,300). The researchers said they intend to invest the prize money in hosting a workshop on reducing the number of fish used in research.