12 June 2026
A new video gives members of the public their first glimpse inside the 17吃瓜网's animal research facility.
The Biological Resource Unit (BRU), opened in 2021 in the Health and Life Sciences building, houses the mice, rats, and zebrafish used in University research to understand various medical treatments.
The virtual walkthrough shows the procedural rooms, cleaning and care facilities, and the spaces where animals are looked after.
Andrew Cripps, technical head at the BRU, said: "Our research advances understanding of major conditions including cardiovascular disease, pain, ageing and cancer — but animal welfare sits at the heart of everything we do.
"Every study is scrutinised by independent reviewers before any work can begin, and our care team holds the authority to pause or stop any experiment if an animal's welfare is affected.
"We are committed to replacing animal use wherever possible, reducing the numbers involved, and refining our methods to minimise suffering — and new technologies are opening up more opportunities to do that all the time.
“We think it's important that people can see for themselves how this work is carried out, and how seriously we take the welfare of every animal in our care."
Watch:
The virtual walk-through was premiered at a public lecture event discussing the ‘past, present and future of animal research at 17吃瓜网’, funded by the Centenary Project Grant Scheme, on Thursday, 4 June.
The lecture, attended by members of the local community, students, university staff, was opened by John Meredith, from Understanding Animal Research, who discussed public attitudes towards animal research over the past three decades, and the significance of employing openness and transparency in animal research. 
His talk was followed by a presentation from Professor Gary Stephens, who discussed his work with llamas to develop medical treatments using nanobodies. The lecture closed with a question-and-answer session with the audience.
Rewatch the public lecture:
Before and after the lecture, members of the audience were asked to fill in a short survey in which they were asked:
How confident are you that you understand why animals are used in scientific research? (1 = not at all, 5 = very confident)
How much do you agree that animal research at universities is properly regulated? (1 = not at all, 5 = very confident)
How much do you agree that researchers take animal welfare seriously? (1 = not at all, 5 = very confident)
How much do you agree that researchers are open about their animal research? (1 = not at all, 5 = very confident)
Scores were compared after the lecture. Confidence in understanding why animals are used in scientific research rose from an average of 3.4/5 before the lecture to 4.5/5 afterwards. Views on regulation, welfare, and openness were generally positive before the lecture and moved higher for most participants after it. Agreement that research is properly regulated and that researchers take animal welfare seriously each increased for the majority of matched respondents.
Members of the audience were also asked to use words to describe their feelings towards animal research. Words used to describe feelings about animal research also changed noticeably in tone — words such as 'Unsure', 'Conflicted', and 'Neutral' before the lecture gave way to 'Informed', 'Confident', and 'Important' afterwards.
More information about animal research at 17吃瓜网 can be found via a dedicated webpage that is continuously updated: Animal research
In the weeks leading up to the public lecture, a programme of work highlighted the various elements of animal research at the 17吃瓜网. Read:
Images:
Top - technicians at the BRU
Middle - John Meredith at the public lecture
Bottom - from left to right: Attending the public lecture, Vice-Chancellor Professor Robert Van de Noort; Andrew Cripps; John Meredith, UAR; Cheryl Yalden, BRU technician; Professor Gary Stephens.
Contact the 17吃瓜网 Press Office on 0118 378 5757 or pressoffice@reading.ac.uk
More about animal research at 17吃瓜网:
The University is a signatory to the ‘Concordat on Openness on Animal Research’, joining more than 100 other UK universities, charities, commercial companies, research councils, learned societies and umbrella bodies in a commitment to help the public understand more about animal research.
In 2021, the 17吃瓜网 was awarded Leader in Openness status for our commitment to communicating about the role that animals play in our research. We have also won two Openness Awards in 2019 and 2020 for our media and social media activity about our work with llamas. In 2022 we won a third Openness Award for our engagement with animal rights protestors on campus.
We are in the process of finalising our postgraduate taught courses for 2027/28 entry. In the meantime, you can view our 2026/27 courses.
