animal research

The University of Cambridge is a Leader in Openness, recognised for 'the innovation and courage shown by individuals and the organisation in supporting greater openness around the use of animals in research'.

Read about how we approach animal research at Cambridge

A shaggy dog story: The contagious cancer that conquered the world

17 May 2016

A contagious form of cancer that can spread between dogs during mating has highlighted the extent to which dogs accompanied human travellers...

Imaging a human embryo in the absence of maternal tissues - day 10 (left) and day 11 (right)

Scientists develop human embryos beyond implantation stage for first time

04 May 2016

A new technique that allows embryos to develop in vitro beyond the implantation stage (when the embryo would normally implant into the womb) has been...

Early-stage embryos with abnormalities may still develop into healthy babies

29 Mar 2016

Abnormal cells in the early embryo are not necessarily a sign that a baby will be born with a birth defect such as Down’s syndrome, suggests new...

Embryo development: Some cells are more equal than others even at four-cell stage

24 Mar 2016

Genetic ‘signatures’ of early-stage embryos confirm that our development begins to take shape as early as the second day after conception, when we are...

Colonies of human naïve embryonic stem cells grown on mouse feeder cells

Scientists develop very early stage human stem cell lines for first time

04 Mar 2016

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have for the first time shown that it is possible to derive from a human embryo so-called ‘naïve’...

Portrait #122 - Coline - While she was smoking (cropped)

Old before your time: Study suggests that ageing begins in the womb

01 Mar 2016

The process of ageing begins even before we are born, according to an international team of researchers led by the University of Cambridge. In a study...

Highway to addiction: how drugs and alcohol can hijack your brain

25 Feb 2016

The discovery of a brain circuit ‘shortcut’ could explain why some addicts unintentionally relapse, and suggests that a shift in focus for therapies...