Lynne Sneddon
About Lynne Sneddon
Using an integrative approach my research seeks to understand the mechanisms underpinning animal behaviour by employing techniques in genomics, molecular biology, physiology and neurobiology. In 2002 I was the first to characterise nociceptors that detect painful stimuli on the head of a fish and have since investigated the capacity for pain, fear and stress to drive improvements in the welfare of fishes and other aquatic animals. My research also explores how intraspecific variation or animal personality influences the response to environmental variation such as pH, temperature and hypoxia which are relevant to understanding the impact of climate change.
Current Grants:
Use of analgesia to refine fish experiments
Fishes are the second most popular experimental model in Sweden and Europe and are subject to invasive procedures that gives rise to pain. To safeguard animal welfare we should try to reduce any pain in fishes by using drugs that provide pain-relief. This project aims to investigate which drugs and at what doses reduce pain and further whether this affects the quality of the data.
Funding: VR 3Rs, Sweden. Lead Researcher: Dr Lynne Sneddon
Welfare of crustaceans
Studies have shown the potential for pain in decapod crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, crayfish, prawns and shrimp). This project will explore whether these animals have receptors for pain, how their behaviour is affected by a painful stimulus and further develop humane ways of killing crustaceans.
Funding: Formas, Sweden. Lead Researcher: Dr Lynne Sneddon. Ph.D Student: Eleftherios Kasiouras. Co-PIs: Dr Albin Gräns, SLU, Dr Björn Roth, Nofima, Dr Peter Hubbard, CCMAR.
Development of species-specific recommendations for slaughter of fish in Swedish aquaculture
Humane killing of animals involves stunning methods. This project will assess the most humane way of stunning fishes to ensure their welfare is optimal. A variety of species will be investigated to determine the best way to effectively stun them before killing in the laboratory and in aquaculture.
Funding: Formas, Sweden. Lead Researcher: Dr Albin Gräns. SLU. Ph.D Student: Ulla Saarinen. Co-PIs; Dr Lynne Sneddon, Prof Kristina Sundell, Prof Anders Carlsson, SLU.
Refining the tagging of wild fish and sharks
This project aims to improve the welfare of wild sharks and large fish in research by quantifying the response of the animals to electronic tagging providing an evidence base for refining procedures.
Funding: NC3Rs UK. Supervisors: Dr Matthew Witt, Dr Lucy Hawkes, Dr Gregory Paull and Dr Lynne Sneddon. Ph.D student: Ghalia Abel.
Advancing understanding of anaesthesia and analgesia in the zebrafish
This project will fill these knowledge gaps via 3 main aims. Aim 1 will establish the efficacy of several anaesthetics/analgesics using functional brain imaging and electrophysiology. Aim 2 will determine which agents inhibit neuromuscular activity, are aversive, or reduce avoidance of noxious stimuli using automated behavioural assessment. Aim 3 is focussed on understanding mechanisms of action and central sedative and nociceptive processing in fish. For this we will undertake functional imaging in circuit-specific transgenic reporter lines and supplement this with immunohistochemistry to identify specific circuits responding to treatment with these agents.
Funding: BBSRC, UK. Lead Researcher: Professor Charles Tyler, University of Exeter; Co-PIs: Dr Matthew Winter and Dr Lynne Sneddon.
Chromatic analysis of behaviour and neural substrate of pain perception in cuttlefish
This proposed project aims to develop a chromatic based monitoring system with embedded artificial intelligence to assess pain in cuttlefish and in doing so fill a much-needed gap in understanding the comparative and evolutionary biology of pain by assessing gene regulation in response to a variety of noxious stimuli. This will allow us to better understand the molecular substrates underlying the transmission of pain in an understudied animal group.
Funding: National Tsing Hua University and University of Liverpool Collaborative Partnership. Supervisors: Professor CC Chiao, NTHU, Taiwan, Dr Lynne Sneddon, Professor Joe Spencer, UoL, UK. Ph.D student: Tzu-Hsin Kuo.
Previous Recent Projects
ZEBREFINE: Refinement of zebrafish anaesthesia
We intend to study different anaesthetics to choose the most appropriate protocol to use in the zebrafish model, inducing no or few alterations in the animal and causing less or no distress and/ or aversion to the animal.
Funding: FCT/FEDER, Portugal. Lead Researcher: Dr Ana Maria Valentim, University of Porto, Co-PI: Dr Lynne Sneddon. Collaborator Dr Marco Marcello, University of Liverpool.
Humane stunning in the slaughter of wild-caught fish for food
This research project will investigate the feasibility of the development and use of humane stunning or stun/killing for wild-capture fish, in order to minimise pain or distress in wild-capture commercial fisheries.
Funding: Humane Slaughter Association (HSA UK). Lead Researcher; Dr Nicola Randall, Harper Adams University, UK. Consultant: Dr Lynne Sneddon.
Impact of fluctuating environmental temperature on personality, metabolism and proteomics in the Beadlet sea anemone.
Intertidal animals experience changes in environmental conditions due to exposure when the tide is low. This is exacerbated by extreme weather events such as heatwaves or cold snaps. Using sea anemones as a key species on rocky shores this project investigates the impact of warming or cooling on behavioural and physiological phenotype as well as profiling proteins that differ between bold and shy animals and those proteins that respond to thermal stress.
Funding: NERC DTP CASE, UK. Supervisors: Dr Jack Thomson (University of Liverpool, UK), Dr Kathryn Arnold (York University, UK) and Dr Lynne Sneddon
External roles:
Convenor of FELASA Working Group: Pain Management in Laboratory Zebrafish
NC3Rs UK Expert Working Group on Zebrafish Welfare
Editorial roles: Animal Behaviour (Ethics Reviewer); Animal Sentience (Editor); Applied Animal Behaviour Science (Associate Editor), ATLA (Editorial Board); Behavioral Ecology (Ethics Editor); Fishes (Associate Editor)
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Methods to Induce Analgesia and Anesthesia in Crustaceans: A Supportive Decision
Tool
Guiomar Rotllant, Pol Llonch, Jose Garcia del Arco, Oscar Chic, Paul Flecknell, Lynne Sneddon
Biology - 2023 -
Impact of Lidocaine on Pain-Related Grooming in
Cuttlefish
Tzu-Hsin Kuo, Lynne Sneddon, Joseph Spencer, Chuan-Chin Chiao
Biology - 2022 -
Pain Recognition in
Fish
Lynne Sneddon, Jonathan Roques
Veterinary Clinics of North America: Exotic Animal Practice - 2022 -
Impact of intraspecific variation in teleost fishes: aggression, dominance status and stress
physiology
Svante Winberg, Lynne Sneddon
Journal of Experimental Biology - 2022 -
Farming
Fish
Joao Saraiva, Pablo Arechaval-Lopez, Lynne Sneddon
Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare - 2022 -
The use of zebrafish as a non-traditional model organism in translational pain research: the knowns and the
unknowns
Fabiano V Costa, Luiz V Rosa, Vanessa A Quadros, Murilo S de Abreu, Adair R S Santos, Lynne Sneddon, Allan V Kalueff, Denis B Rosemberg
Current neuropharmacology - 2022 -
Understanding early-life pain and its effects on adult human and animal emotionality: Translational lessons from rodent and zebrafish
models
Murillo de Abreu, Ana Giacomini, Rafael Genario, Konstantin Demin, Tamara Amstislavskaya, Fabiano Costa, Denis Rosemberg, Lynne Sneddon, Tatiana Strekalova, Marta Soares, Allan Kalueff
Neuroscience Letters - 2022 -
Temperature-driven changes in behavioural unpredictability and personality in the beadlet sea anemone, Actinia
equina
Daniel Maskrey, Lynne Sneddon, Kathryn Arnold, David Wolfenden, Jack Thomson
Animal Behaviour - 2021 -
Personality-specific carry-over effects on
breeding
S. M. Harris, S. Descamps, Lynne Sneddon, M. Cairo, P. Bertrand, S. C. Patrick
Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences - 2020 -
Acute and chronic stress prevents responses to pain in zebrafish: evidence for stress-induced
analgesia
Jack Thomson, Anthony Deakin, Andrew Cossins, Joseph Spencer, Iain Young, Lynne Sneddon
Journal of Experimental Biology - 2020 -
Personality predicts foraging site fidelity and trip repeatability in a marine
predator
Stephanie Harris, Sebastian Descamps, Lynne Sneddon, Philip Bertrand, Olivier Chastel, Samantha Patrick
Journal of Animal Ecology - 2020 -
The impact of personality, morphotype and shore height on temperature‐mediated behavioural responses in the beadlet anemone Actinia
equina
Daniel Maskrey, Lynne Sneddon, Kathryn Arnold, David Wolfenden, Jack Thomson
Journal of Animal Ecology - 2020 -
Welfare challenges influence the complexity of movement: Fractal analysis of behaviour in
zebrafish
Anthony Deakin, Joseph Spencer, Andrew Cossins, Iain Young, Lynne Sneddon
Fishes - 2019 -
Automated monitoring of behaviour in zebrafish after invasive
procedures.
Anthony G Deakin, Jonathan Buckley, Hamzah S AlZu'bi, Andrew R Cossins, Joseph W Spencer, Waleed Al'Nuaimy, Iain S Young, Lynne Sneddon, Jack S Thomson
Scientific reports - 2019 -
Pain in aquatic
animals
Lynne Sneddon
Journal of Experimental Biology - 2015