Virtual Research Seminar Series

Next Seminar - September 24 - 4pm GMT

Blood Money: The history of horseshoe crabs in science and medicine

In the 1960s, medical researchers working with Limulus polyphemus (the Atlantic Horseshoe Crab) first isolated Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) from the crabs’ blood as a means to test for the presence of endotoxins – ubiquitous substances that can cause life-threatening fevers if introduced into the human body. In the decades since, the LAL test has become the global standard for endotoxin detection in pharmaceuticals, an obscure but vital part of public health infrastructure. The use of horseshoe crabs in medical and scientific experimentation goes back much further than the 1960’s, however. This seminar places the contemporary medical uses of horseshoe crab blood in the context of a longer history of exploitation of these animals. This history in turn points up the political and ethical issues wrapped up in species conservation and welfare of marine invertebrates.

Kristoffer Whitney; Associate Professor, Department of Science, Technology, and Society; Rochester Institute of Technology

Upcoming Seminars

TBD: Stay tuned!

Past Seminars on our YouTube

August 2025 - “How Can We Measure Sentience in an Insect?” (Matilda Gibbons; University of Pennsylvania, Department of Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine)

June 2025 - “When and Why Are Motivational Trade-Offs Evidence of Sentience?” (Simon Brown, Research Officer, London School of Economics, UK)

May 2025 - “Investigations on the possibility of pain in crustaceans and changes in how these animals are used” (Emeritus Professor Bob Elwood; Queen’s University, Belfast, UK)

April 2025 - “The 3Rs Principles in Invertebrate Research” (Dr. Miriam A Zemanova; University of Fribourg, Switzerland)

October 2024 - “Identifying trends in reporting on the ethical treatment of insects in research” (Craig Perl, PhD; Insect Welfare Research Society, USA)

August 2024 - “The Sphex story: How humans kept repeating themselves” (Fred Keijzer, PhD; University of Groningen, the Netherlands)

June 2024 - “How honeybees think” (Andrew Barron, PhD; Macquarie University, AU)

April 2024 - “The moral status of insects” (Jeff Sebo, PhD; New York University, USA)

March 2024 - “The needs and means of using non-lethal methods in entomological research” (Gabor Lövei, PhD; Aarhus University & University of Debrecen & Marco Ferrante, PhD; Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany)

February 2024 - “Evaluating electrical stunning as a humane slaughter method for decapod crustaceans: Lessons learned when assessing sensitivity” (Amaya Albalat, PhD; University of Stirling, UK) - view slides here

December 2023 - “How the cricket feels and what the mealworm has to say: The influence of rearing environments on insect welfare in different food and feed production systems” (Alexander Haverkamp, PhD; Wageningen University, the Netherlands)

October 2023 - “Insect Sentience” (Lars Chittka, PhD; Queen Mary University of London, UK) - view recording of comparable talk at UFAW, here

August 2023 - “How Can We Know What is Good for Insects?” (Heather Browning, PhD; Southhampton University, UK)

June 2023 - “Insect welfare: Solid foundations for an emerging field” (Meghan Barrett, PhD; California State University Dominguez Hills, USA)