Sometimes the most valuable advances occur at methodological levels. An example of this is a new laboratory technique that allows faster assessment of potential methane inhibiting compounds. Possible compounds are initially identified using a computerised process known as chemogenomics. This allows a rapid scan of many thousands of compounds to identify any that in theory should be able to inhibit the function of methanogens. But the  next crucial step is that promising compounds need to be tested in a laboratory, by pipetting the compounds onto plates that contain methanogens, and seeing whether they actually affect the methanogen’s function. The most promising and animal-safe compounds can then be tested in simulated rumen fluids and ultimately in live animals. This initial laboratory testing was a timeconsuming technique, until a team led by local scientists, assisted by international GRA scientists and New Zealand GRA funding, devised a new method. The new technique keeps methanogens, which live in anaerobic conditions, alive in the lab on multi-well plates that allow much higherthroughput testing of many compounds at any time. This has greatly accelerated the ability to test potential methanogen inhibitors, and has identified several promising compounds that are now being taken further in the methane inhibitor programme funded by the PGgRc and NZAGRC.