Recent developments in animal sciences.

Dear Editor,

Recently, a new journal, JEAAS (Journal of Experimental and Applied Animal Sciences) has been launched. The goal of this new interdisciplinary journal is to advance the field of animal sciences. A particular focus is the establishment and application of animal models for basic and clinical research (Intzoglou et al., 2014[13]; Graham et al., 2014[7]; Musk et al., 2014[18]; Rezaei et al., 2014[19]; Bénardeau et al., 2013[1]; Deluzurieux et al., 2013[3]). Particularly, the advent of transgenic and knockout technologies together with the generation of humanized animals (Hammad et al., 2013[10]) opens exciting possibilities. A second field of interest is traditional and applied animal sciences including farm animals, animal nutrition and related fields of veterinary medicine (Mallaiah et al., 2014[16]; Soriano-Úbeda et al., 2013[21]; Mishra et al., 2013[17]; Zarrindast et al., 2013[22]; Ikewuchi et al., 2013[12]).

A currently particularly active research field is the establishment of in vitro systems for applications in pharmacology and toxicology (Kim et al., 2015[14]; Godoy et al., 2013[6]; Zellmer et al., 2010[23]; Drasdo et al., 2014[4]; Grinberg et al., 2014[8]; Schug et al., 2013[20]; Krug et al., 2013[15]). A limitation of in vitro data is that comprehensive studies on the in vivo relevance of responses observed in vitro are rare (Bolt et al., 2014[2]; Ghallab and Bolt, 2014[5]; Hammad et al., 2014[11]; Hammad, 2013[9]). Therefore, JEAAS particularly welcomes studies that compare mechanisms observed in in vitro systems to the corresponding processes in organs or organisms. We hope that JEAAS will play a constructive role in this field of research.