A leading scientist in Germany has spoken about his research involving the use of animals for EARA’s #TransparencyThursday Q&A series on Instagram.

Professor Alexander Bartelt, of Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, answered questions on how mice, rats and other animals can be used to understand diet and weight gain in humans, and how it can lead to diabetes or cardiovascular disease.

He explained, that while cell models can help understand how the metabolism works and identify disease, ‘..these cell models have limitations and we need to understand how the organs communicate.”

As institutions seek to become more open and transparent about their work #TransparencyThursday gives the public a chance to find out why it is necessary to use animals.