Monkeying around in Huntingdon

Today was yet another fast-paced, activity-packed day in London. The day was beautiful, partly cloudy with temps in the upper 50’s. Leaving our hotel at 7:15 this morning, we then traveled another two hours on the Tube and the train to arrive in Huntingdon, where Huntingdon Animal Life Sciences is located. After arriving in Huntingdon we were met with several very official-looking employees of Huntingdon who drove us to the facility. For many of us, this was our first time riding inside a European car, and it was very interesting! Some of us (ahem) tried to hop into the drivers’ side, forgetting that it’s on the opposite side! For those who are interested, we spotted a John Deer tractor going down the road on our way to Huntingdon, and the driver of our car said that tractors are fairly common to see around that area.

At Huntingdon we first listened to several PowerPoint presentations about their company, what they do, and the importance of their research in the overall drug approval process. Huntingdon is a research facility that tests many different kinds of products on many different species of animals. In most cases the drug company will already have a study design for the lab to follow and will chose which species they want their drugs tested on. Unfortunately, most of the animals are put to sleep after their study is over, although the lab tries to re-use animals in studies when they can. This is a very controversial subject with regards to animal rights.

After lunch we split into four groups, with each group seeing one of their research areas (large animals, monkeys, dogs, or rodents). I joined the group going to see the large animals. Much of the research they do in this area is related to studying the safety/effects of veterinary drugs and pesticides on animals. In these cases they may look at how the products get into the food chain or how an agent could affect a bird’s reproductive process. Other research they do with the large animals is related to newly developed drugs for humans, which is usually research to show that the agents are safe to be used before beginning clinical trials in humans.

We were told that at any one time they could have up to 20 different species of large animals being involved in studies. We first went to the avian building, although they only had one species there at the moment, which was a quail. The objective of this experiment is to see how much, if any, of the tested drug will get into the birds’ eggs, and if it could have any effects on the offspring. They do this study over a period of 6 months, collecting the eggs, incubating them, and then looking for any effects in the eggs or chicks once they have hatched.

The next animals we saw were pigs! They import specially-bred miniature pigs from Germany that have been developed for research. They have been using more pigs over the last few years for drug research since they are most similar to humans. The pigs that we saw were being used to determine a suitable drug dose level for the main study.

Last we saw the sheep. They have about 30 sheep which are in a study now testing a new drug for bone graphs that is designed to help the bone heal faster. A few select sheep were being used to test the drug’s metabolism, and to do this they tagged it with a radioactive material so as to see where the drug goes in the body and how long it takes to be eliminated. All of the animals are well cared for at this facility, and they try very hard to put the animals at ease. Animals are housed in pairs whenever possible, and are given toys to play with during the day. Overall it was a really interesting trip, one that I think everyone enjoyed… especially those who got to see the monkeys (ask Jordon, Ryan, Obadiah, Jace, and Kim about their experience of being accidentally locked in the monkey cage with their host)!

After Huntingdon we split off into groups to enjoy the rest of the day. To take full advantage of the great weather, the girls (Alissa, Melissa, Sandra, Mallory, Krystal, Maren, and I) decided to take a ride on the London Eye. It is an observational wheel located across the Thames river from Big Ben and Parliament. It is actually an enormous ferris wheel that continually rotates, never stopping, with enclosed capsules that can hold up to 25 people each. It rotates once very half hour, and although it is fairly expensive, it is an amazing view at the top! Afterward, five of us made our way to Tate Modern (a modern art gallery), only to get there right at closing time. We then made our way back to the hotel by Tube and train and found out what London is like during rush hour. We literally could not squeeze one more person onto our subway car!

Also, for those of you who are fans of the Harry Potter series, we went through King’s Cross Train Station today on our way to Huntingdon and passed by Platform 9 ¾. For those who don’t know, this is the spot where they did part of the filming for the Harry Potter movies.

I thoroughly enjoyed the awesome weather and our activities today, and I look forward to tomorrow!

- Stephanie

Common English Lingo:

Mind the Gap! (the space between the subway car and the platform)

”To Lease” = “To Let”

“Yield” = “Give Way”

“Thanks” = “Cheers”

“Exit” = “Way Out”

“French fries” = “Chips”

“Elevator” = “The Lift”

“Subway” = “The Underground” or “Tube”