A love of animals extends to students
Professor Rachel Anderson’s research on stress comes from her love of animals and reflects onto her relationship with her students.
By Logan Murphy and Ariel Dunleavy, reporters
Rachel Anderson has never named the animals in her science experiments. Scientists typically avoid naming research animals so they do not get attached to them since they are often killed after the experiment. Then she did an Edgren Scholars research project with neurology student Paisley Buchanan at Bethel University. The group of 20 rats used for Buchanan’s and Anderson’s research, which is focused on testing animals without stressing animals, were named after men in the Bible who had fallen out of grace with God.
A neuroscientist in Bethel’s psychology department, Anderson has loved animals since she was little. Anderson was born in Japan, but growing up in a military family meant she moved around a lot, her family settled in south central Minnesota right as Anderson was starting high school. Up until college, her dream was to be a veterinarian, until she realized she would have to see animals suffering.
“I feel a lot of empathy towards animals, so when I saw them in distress, it was too much on my emotional and mental health,” Anderson said.
Anderson realized it is possible to get animals to perform without depriving them of companionship, food, or other necessities during her postdoctoral research at the University of Minnesota. Anderson’s empathy towards animals led her to ask a question that she still asks herself today: How can we test animals without overly stressing them?
This research is important for the future of science. To know that animals can perform at the same level in an experiment with less stress as they can in an experiment that is extremely stressful. It is important to note that all experiments involve a little bit of stress, whether that’s depriving them of food, water, or social companions. Anderson’s and Buchanan’s research is working to figure out the level of deprivation the rats can handle, while still completing their tasks.
The research Anderson and Buchanan are doing is a “proof-of” experiment, meaning it is focused on answering the question, can animals learn without being food-deprived and allowing them to be housed socially. Now follow-up experiments will be conducted to figure out how to motivate animals that are not food-deprived, since food motivation does not always work. This research will be presented by Buchanan at the Society for Neuroscience conference this fall. Anderson is hoping that this will get other scientists talking and enforce the idea that it is to the benefit of scientists to have animals in a non-deprived state as to avoid the variable that psychological stress adds. This does not mean that fewer animals will die but instead, their quality of life is more humane.
All research that scientist’s do is always conducted in the most humane way possible. All animal research done in the United States is required to be reviewed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Bethel University has its own IACUC committee that reviews all research involving animals that is done on campus. The committee did not have any concerns regarding this research and is able to see the potential in finding ways to limit the psychological stress that animals go through in experiments.
During her time in undergrad at Hamline University where she got a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Psychology, Anderson found her love for the study of behavior. She went on to attend graduate school at the University of Iowa to get her PhD in Psychology. In her lab in Iowa, she focused on how stress affects aging using human and animal subjects. She realized all her research put animals, usually rats, in stressful environments.
The time she spent working with these animals at the University of Minnesota in her postdoctoral lab changed the way Anderson thinks about science and how animals are treated in experiments.
During her time in grad school, Anderson got the chance to teach, and loved it. She enjoyed being an undergrad so much, so when she got the chance to teach them she was able to really connect with the students. Her goal while getting her PhD was to eventually teach at a school like Bethel. When taking the interview at Bethel University, Anderson did not think she was going to get the job because she had just graduated with her PhD in 2018, but was grateful when she was offered the position in 2019.
“I have the best job in the world,” Anderson said. “It’s kind of a cliche but I literally am doing my dream job.”
Anderson has continued her research on animals and stress while working at Bethel. This past summer Anderson spent time working on her research with Buchanan, a senior neuroscience major who hopes to get her Ph.D in neuroscience.
“Anderson is passionate about research but more about students,” Buchanan said. “That’s why she came to Bethel. She was working at very nice, fancy labs at the U of M and chose to take her degree to Bethel so she could teach and interact with students.
Professor Sherryse Corrow was Anderson’s mentor during her first year at Bethel and is now one of her best friends.
“Her biggest passion is that she cares a lot about her students and what she’s teaching about,” Corrow said.
Anderson’s passion for her students and teaching was evident from her very first class at Bethel University. She started out teaching her favorite course, Physiological Psychology. The students in that class are students that Anderson holds close to her heart.
“I think I will always remember them as they were with me when I was still figuring it all out,” Anderson said.
These connections were not only experienced by Anderson but by her students as well.
“More than being a good professor, I wanted to be her friend because she was honest with us,” Buchanan said.
The passion and excitement from Anderson and her students are so evident in the classroom. After observing Anderson’s Neuroscience Methods Lab, it was clear that these students want to learn. The students laugh as they all bounce jokes off of one another, including Anderson, and are eager to learn and work together.
Anderson continues to show the same passion that she has for animals, towards her students over the years.
