BUDE Support Group for the charity Animal Free Research UK reports another successful year, raising a fabulous £4,663.85 for animal free diabetes research at the University of Exeter Medical School.

Community ambassador Steph Jones-Giles said: “It really was a wonderful year for us as a group with our regular stalls and lots of new events. We were delighted to be central in the activities of Bude Animal Friends in the launch of their inaugural awareness day.

“The icing on the cake last summer as part of that group was winning first prize in our category at both Bude and Bradworthy carnivals! Since we formed in November 2015 we have raised £26,989.86 for animal free research which has included research into heart disease, brain tumours, leukaemia, breast cancer and diabetes. Jackie Diffey fronted the diabetes research fundraising in 2019 undertaking a mammoth 20km surf ski challenge on Bude Canal raising a phenomenal £1,641.42 of this year’s total.

“In 2020 we will continue supporting this research project as we strengthen the relationship we have made with the University of Exeter’s team of scientists. Penny Baxter, who also has a personal family link to diabetes, has decided to participate and complete an ultra-marathon in September 2020. She fancied a new challenge and thought why not make the journey from Bude to Exeter to hand the cheque over in person? Penny is blogging her training journey and has a JustGiving page for sponsorship.”

Lorna Harries, professor in molecular genetics at the University of Exeter Medical School, says that the whole research team is ‘so very grateful’ to the Bude Animal Free Research UK group for all its fundraising and awareness activities, and are delighted to be working together again in 2020, especially in light of the newly formed Animal Replacement Centre (ARC) 2.0.

The University of Exeter’s ARC 2.0 is a new initiative designed to embed animal free research approaches into research pipelines right from the start. There are two primary aims: firstly, to develop new approaches to do first class, cutting edge science, using entirely animal free methods; secondly, to introduce a step change in how they train young scientists, equipping them to tackle some of the big questions in healthcare research using new tools and techniques.

Young researchers will be supported by Animal Free Research UK through ARC 2.0 to undertake a PhD studentship, which will then progress to a three-year post-doctoral post, providing milestones are met. Following the post-doctoral stage, ARC postgraduates will receive three years’ independent funding to be taken at the institution of their choice, to disseminate these new methods within their own growing teams.

The first ARC-supported project at the University of Exeter is around finding new uses for previously approved drugs in the treatment of age-related diseases. Many of such diseases are caused by the accumulation of aged cells in organs and tissues. By screening a library of already approved drugs, researchers can identify those that can be repurposed in order to remove or rejuvenate aged cells, which may cause the disease. Because these drugs have been already tested and approved for human use, they do not require any animal testing.

For the diabetes ‘Sugar Mouse’ project, they are progressing very well. They have been able to successfully isolate the cells that have changed identity and are now querying them for changes in their gene expression associated with the change in cell identity. They have found some very interesting things! Firstly, the nature of the RNA messages in these cells is altered, as it was in their earlier work, but there are a number of other features that they are following up now.

Steph added: “We are forever grateful for the support we have from the Bude community and look forward to seeing everyone at events later in the year. Our 2020 target is to break the £30,000 barrier and, with all the amazing volunteers and Penny’s determination, I have every confidence we will!”

To join the group contact Steph on 07971 454214 or look up the Facebook group Animal Free Research UK: Bude.