WEDNESDAY MORNING AALAS 73RD NATIONAL MEETING
Rollback, Repurpose, Rethink, and Realign: Four Rs of Increased Efficiency
8:00 AM - 10:15 AM Leader: Judy M Hickman-Davis Moderator: Valerie K Bergdall Facilitator: Vittoria M Capria The need for efficiency is the very essence of the lab animal facility. The recent shutdown(s) due to the SARSCoV2 pandemic and the altered job market have created new challenges and intensified the urgency of old challenges. Academic and private institutions are struggling to obtain or maintain supplies and hire qualified staff to support the animal care program. At our large academic institution there is a 400% decrease in applicants for animal care positions across the board. This large gap in personnel and difficulty in acquiring new equipment has caused us to rollback some requirements, rethink our work practices, repurpose our job tasks, and realign how we communicate. This session will discuss new practices to conserve supplies and decrease documentation of standard husbandry tasks; the trainee to trainer process and how to harness the skills of technicians to expand versatility and optimize training programs; how to apply lean 6 sigma management methods to increase productivity of standard practices; and harnessing existing electronic systems to improve communication between research staff and animal care workers. The goal of quality animal care remains unchanged, yet our work practices have adapted to meet these new challenges. This session will discuss practices used at different academic institutions for increasing efficiency and communication within the animal care program.The target audience is program directors, veterinarians, facility trainers, and managers/supervisors. Speakers/Topics: 8:00
JudyHickman-Davis Welcome and Introductions
8:05
JudyHickman-Davis Rollback: Maintaining Quality while Decreasing Documentation and Requirements
8:30
Katherine Nolan
8:55
Denise M Ostmeyer Rethink: Using Lean/6 Sigma Methods to Improve Success
9:20
Katie Emmer
Repurpose:OptimizingTraining Program Outcomes and Improving Technician Versatility
Realign: Opportunities for Communication in the Electronic Age
PLATFORM SESSIONS 8:00 AM - 10:45 AM Platform Session abstracts will be available on www.aalas.org in July. They will also be included in both the mobile app and the National Meeting Final Program.
SPECIAL TOPIC LECTURES Nathan E Brewer Lecture
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Moderator: Satish Adusumilli Speaker and description will be available after the Award Selection Committee selects the Nathan Brewer Award recipient. This session information will be available in the mobile app and in the Final Program. This Special Topic Lecture is sponsored in part by AALAS Awards Selection Committee (ARS).
Synthetic Lethality: The Future of Cancer Treatment
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Speaker: Marc S Hulin Moderator: Temeri Wilder-Kofie Facilitator: Janet L Steele Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020. Cancer is the second leading killer of people in the United States at a rate of 600,000 annually. Cancer is a generic term for a large group of diseases that can affect any part of the body. Other terms used are malignant tumors and neoplasms. One defining feature of cancer is the rapid creation of abnormal cells that grow beyond their usual boundaries. Metastases are the primary cause of death from cancer. The standard therapies for cancer treatment still include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. Significant communication is lacking in new innovative forms of therapy that are producing a higher quality of life and saving lives of many cancer patients. Current research has uncovered the power of the genetic mutations in certain cancers combined with DNA repair inhibitors to cause cancer cell death by a modality known as Synthetic Lethality (SL). SL is growing increasingly in popularity to attack cancer at the heart of its mechanism to grow within the patient by various mutations. The development of SL therapy and animal models in cancer treatment provides a new tool in the toolbox to fight cancer. SL is being developed as a first-line therapy in high-grade serious cancers of ovary including epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancer. The presenter will provide a foundation on this new therapy for cancer patients and how animal models are used to exploit research opportunities in this arena and begin the process of communicatingdifferenttreatmentoptionsforcancerpatients.The targeted audience for this presentation is anyone who is personally a cancer patient or who have family and friends affected by cancer plus individuals who work in an animal care and use program where oncology biomedical research is conducted so that they can understand and appreciate the value of the work their daily work in the care and welfare of research animals.
Exhibit Hall Refreshment Break! 9:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m. Sponsored by TBD
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AnimalWelfare,RegulatoryCompliance,andPublicEducation
BiomedicalResearch,Medicine,andMethodology
Facility Design, Management, and Operations Oncology
