Noelia Lopez-Salesansky
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Noelia is employed part time in the Named Veterinary Surgeons Service (BSU) and she is undertaking a part time phd at the Centre for Animal Welfare (VCS).
Biography
Noelia qualified as a Veterinary Surgeon from the University of Las Palmas, Spain in 2000. After a spell in small animal general practice she moved into the laboratory animal field working as a Named Veterinary Surgeon at the RVC. In 2006 she took a sabbatical year to study a Master in Animal Science (Genetics and Biotechnology) at the University of Sydney, Australia. The title of the Master Thesis was "Mapping of Genes Associated with ASD (Atrial Septal Defect) in Mice".
She is a Convenor of LASA Care and Welfare Section and a member of LAVA and AWSELVA. She was part of the assessment panel for the N3CRs/LASA Small Awards Scheme. She started her PhD on 'Olfactory effects of husbandry on mouse welfare' at the RVC in 2011. It is supervised by Charlotte Burn, with Dominic Wells and Lucy Whitfield as co-supervisors
Research
Noelia is interested in the impact of experimental and husbandry procedures on laboratory animal welfare and in the ways to improve it. Her research focuses on the effects of odours commonly present in laboratory animal units on mouse behaviour. Olfaction plays a crucial role in mouse communication by providing information on genetic identity (sex, kinship) and physiological status (reproductive status, health, dominance). She will carry out olfactory preference and avoidance tests with a wide range of commonly used cleaning products, glove materials and smells of other species, to detect fear responses and aversion behaviour in the mice. Understanding how these smells affect mouse welfare will help to refine mouse husbandry and experimental procedures, improving the quality of life of laboratory animals and the experimental data obtained.
Teaching
She teaches in the Home Office Licence Course and in other workshops organised by the College.