105775Superovulation without hormones - developing a novel, non-invasive method to induce follicular growthClosedStudyInnovate UKThe creation of genetically modified (transgenic) animal models, primarily mice and rats, has revolutionised our understanding of human disease. Transgenic biotechnologies utilise large numbers of animals: both females and males to generate embryos for genetic manipulation, females to provide a host uterus to support the development of transgenic embryos, and infertile males to induce so-called 'pseudopregnancy' (a process by which females' uterus becomes receptive to transferred embryos) in recipient females. In 2017, 1.69 million UK Home Office regulated procedures were conducted on mice destined for use in such transgenic breeding programmes. Therefore, there is a great market demand for new technologies which can both improve procedural efficiency and markedly reduce experimental animal pain and distress. Mouse embryos for research/breeding programmes are generated using donor females by a process known as superovulation, which aims to maximise oocyte/embryo yield per female. Currently, the procedure involves injecting hormones into the abdominal cavity of female mice to stimulate the growth of ovarian follicles and eggs. The latter are subsequently either fertilised through natural mating or harvested and fertilised in vitro. However, successful superovulation is inherently variable, with yields and quality varying across different operators and batches of hormones. Moreover, intra-abdominal injections are painful and distressing for animals such that users have an ethical and legal responsibility under the 3Rs principles ('Replacement, Reduction, Refinement') to use alternative methods if available. Ostara have identified a market opportunity for developing a high-quality replacement for the hormones used in superovulation (using small molecules called aptamers) as well as moving away from intra-abdominal injections by delivering their active agents vaginally (which is not achievable using current hormone treatments). This novel approach can significantly improve the reliability of superovulation through the use of quality-controlled metered dose hormone alternatives whilst reducing pain and distress by using a minimally invasive agent delivery route.