VRI: Presentation and role in the project

VETERINARY RESEARCH INSTITUTE (VRI) is a public research institute belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic founded in 1955. VRI is only centre of research specialized in veterinary medicine in the Czech Republic and one of the few in Europe, which can conduct the most demanding studies with the right balance between basic and applied research due to the professional level of its teams, methodological basis and instrumentation. Its investigations cover all types of farm animals, whilst the control of diseases of cattle, pig and poultry is its top priority. However, it also focuses efforts on other animal species.

The Institute has accredited animal facilities to carry out research using farm and laboratory animals with high standards of work safety and animal welfare. The stables are in accredited mode for use by most laboratory and experimental animals, including pigs. Another specific facility to perform experiments is the biosafety level 3 laboratory, which provides almost the highest level of containment laboratory for work with high-risk microorganisms.

The key role of VRI in the project ALEHOOP is to contribute to design new feeds for different land or aquatic animals based on macroalgae protein inclusion as emerging ingredients of project and to demonstrate the acceptability of these new feed formulations based on animal tests