ILAR: A Retrospective and Prospective Look

Welcome to the third issue of volume 62 of the ILAR Journal. As you have read in the preceding letter, this issue will be the last before a hiatus in the publication of the ILAR Journal. In considering what to include in this special issue, the issue editors and editorial board members elected to take a retrospective look at ILAR and the many successes that have taken place over the last 70 years as well as provide some difficult-to-find early papers and artwork. The issue content was also carefully developed with a consideration of the future of ILAR and the important role it will continue to serve for the research community.

ILAR has been a program within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) since 1953, starting as the Institute of Animal Resources. ILAR’s history is recounted in the article by Kinter et al entitled “The History of the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Laboratory Animal Research.” This article includes a section on the history and future of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, one of ILAR’s premier publications. The very first edition of the Guide, from 1964, is republished in the supplemental material for this issue.

Other articles include (1) a review of the history of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees by Kinter et al, which presents the possible use of “fit-for-purpose” assessment rather than harm/benefit analysis for determining ethical suitability of experimental studies; (2) a review by Brayton detailing the history and significance of laboratory codes and nomenclature in scientific communication regarding genetics and animals in research as well as implications for the future; (3) a summation by Newsome et al of the key messages resulting from the ILAR Roundtable Workshop on the “Rapid and Sustained Response to COVID-19” held in March 2021; and (4) an article by Natterson-Horowitz and Reynolds that addresses animal-based studies that go beyond the research laboratory and encompass the concepts of One Health and Planetary Health.

As a final and yet somewhat ironic note, this may be the last time we refer to our National Academies’ activity under the name “ILAR.” In 2018, ILAR underwent a market assessment by the National Academies, and it was agreed that the scope of work should be expanded to include research, education, and welfare regarding wildlife and non-model species, and to address other animal-related topics, such as One Health, biodiversity, and conservation (see Natterson-Horowitz and Reynolds for more details). Steps in this direction to date have included the expansion of the composition of the ILAR Council to include experts on wildlife, One Health, and conservation, and the 2022 wildlife workshop, co-organized and convened by the National Academies’ ILAR Roundtable on Science and Welfare in Laboratory Animal Use and ILAR’s new Standing Committee on the Care and Use of Animals in Research.

This expanded scope also led to the conclusion that the existing name, ILAR, did not reflect the full breadth and depth of the activities and potential of this important unit at the National Academies. Many options for a new name were considered, and in September of 2022, the National Academies approved the proposed new name of the “Board on Animal Health Sciences, Conservation, and Research” (BAHSCR) to replace the name ILAR. This new name encompasses both our historic and groundbreaking role in the laboratory animal research community and the complementary new role that has developed over more recent years and will be embraced in upcoming decades. In addition, we become a “board,” which makes us consistent with the other units in the Division on Earth and Life Studies and the National Academies more broadly. Although we will continue to serve the laboratory animal research community, it was time to enrich and expand our work. It is our expectation that the new board will be able to function more extensively and be supported more rigorously by a much broader research community. This broader community avails itself of research and methodologies for free-ranging wildlife species (including when these species are brought into laboratory settings) for the benefit of increasing scientific knowledge, improving human and domestic animal health, and ensuring the health, welfare, and survival of a wide diversity of non-domesticated animal species.

We, the ILAR journal issue editors and editorial board members, hope that you enjoy this special issue of the ILAR Journal. We look forward to working with, and representing, each and every one of you under our new nameplate of the Board on Animal Health Sciences, Conservation, and Research.

Author notes

Robert C. Dysko, DVM, Diplomate ACLAM, is a Clinical Professor in the Unit for Laboratory Animal Medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. He has served as Chair of the ILAR Council, member of the ILAR Roundtable, and Issue Editor for the National Academies' ILAR Journal.

Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, MD, is a Professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. She has served as a member of the ILAR Council and Issue Editor for the National Academies' ILAR Journal.