Kent Scientific Corp

TUESDAY MORNING

WORKSHOPS

W-06 A Collaborative Approach to Investigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Biomedical Research

8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Leader: Crystal H Johnson Faculty: Crystal H Johnson, Temeri Wilder-Kofie, Dondrae J Coble, Donna M Jarrell, Sally Thompson-Iritani, Erin NZ Yu, Tanise L Jackson, Sharron M Kirchain Facilitator: TBN Workshop Fee: $150 Workshop Limit: 50 Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within biomedical research continues to be an ongoing topic that requires actionable steps to achieve progress. Many laboratory animal research affiliations addressed this topic by developing DEI statements and organizing committees within their respective organizations. While each of the organizations (AALAS, APV, ACLAM, ASLAP, VOEN) have developed individual plans to move their respective agendas forward, a collaborative approach can lead to sustainability and increased impact to achieve like-minded initiatives. This workshop is a collective effort between AALAS, ACLAM, APV, ASLAP, and the VOEN to provide an intimate setting for a collegial discussion about diversity, equity, and inclusion. The workshop will encompass breakout sessions that foster small group discussions inclusive of real-life case-based scenarios on the DEI responsibilities of management and leadership in the workplace; unconscious bias and the barriers associated; and parameters for allyship. Attendees are expected to gain practical knowledge and understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion and tools that can be applied daily within the biomedical research industry, helping to advance a more inclusive culture and workplace. The target audience includes veterinarians, technicians, animal care staff, researchers, IACUC staff, vendors, and others that are interested in contributing to this discussion and learning more about this important topic.

W-04 cont Occupational Health and Safety Considerations in Animal Research: Learning through Interactive Case Studies

(8-hour workshop continued from Monday 1:00 PM) 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Leaders/Faculty: Lesley A Colby, Susan B Harper Facilitator: TBN See Monday 1:00 PM for pricing and description.

W-05 cont Teaching Monkeys to Cooperate with Restraint: Using Positive Reinforcement Training and Temperament Testing Methods

(8-hour workshop continued from Monday 1:00 PM) 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Leader: Jaine E Perlman Faculty: Lisa A Houser, Kristine Coleman, Mollie A Bloomsmith Facilitator: Mark J Prescott See Monday 1:00 PM for pricing and description. This Workshop is sponsored in part by Lomir Biomedical Inc, BH Inc, Carter2 Systems Inc, National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement, and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), and North American 3Rs Collaborative (NA3RsC).

W-07 Would You Like to Improve Your Suturing and Rodent Surgery Aseptic Treatment Technique?

8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Leader: Marcel I Perret-Gentil Faculty: Marcel Perret-Gentil, Laurie Long, Miguel Torres, Szczepan W Baran, Raphael Malbrue, Erin Grove, Mary Walker, Vittoria Capria, Elen Hernandez, Jeremy Jeffrey Facilitator: TBN Workshop Fee: $150 Workshop Limit: 30 You may feel proficient, even confident in performing rodent surgery; however, you may be surprised how small improvements can have a huge impact to your animal’s recovery and data. During this workshop, participants will learn and refine commonly used suture, knot-tying, and rodent surgical draping techniques. The workshop will focus on appropriate hand-eye coordination to improve suturing skills and provide updates from recent scientific studies on the benefits of using Press’n Seal® and Reynolds Wrap® aluminum foil in routine rodent surgical aseptic procedures. A state-of-theart inanimate model will be introduced and used during the suture practice. Easy to apply hands-on exercises will be put into practice that have been shown to significantly improve aseptic technique with Press’n Seal® and Reynold Wrap®. This workshop is designed for individuals who have minimal or no suturing skills but is also a great opportunity for those with considerable experience wanting to upgrade their skills and teach others enhanced technique. It is also for those that wish to improve and teach rodent surgery aseptic technique with quite simple to implement methods. This Workshop is sponsored in part by Kent Scientific.

SEMINARS

Mitigating the Risks of Microbial and Genetic Contamination of Biological Materials in Oncology Research

8:00 AM - 10:15 AM Leader: Marcus J Crim Moderator: Robert S Livingston Facilitator: TBN Cancer cell lines, cell line-derived xenografts (CDX), and engrafted tissues all play important roles in preclinical oncology research. However, contamination of these materials with other types of cells, human or rodent pathogens, can introduce confounding variability that leads to invalid and misinterpreted experimental results. Moreover, pathogens in biological materials further introduce risk for laboratory-acquired human infections or rodent infections if biological materials are used in animal models. This seminar will provide insight into the adverse impacts of contaminated biological materials in oncology research with respect to reproducibility, animal health, and human health, as well as practical considerations for an institutional approach to a comprehensive biosecurity program. The targeted audience is laboratory animal veterinarians, facility managers, and animal welfare policy and compliance personnel.

Speakers/Topics: 8:00 Robert S Livingston Welcome and Introduction 8:05 Marcia L Hart Impact of Infection with Human and Murine Viruses in Mouse Models

8:30 Marcus J Crim Adverse Effects of Mycoplasma Infection and Practical Considerations for Bacterial and Fungal Cell Line Contaminants 8:55 Sarah Hansen The Importance of Cell Line Authentication for the Integrity of Oncology Research 9:20 James Sheets Practical Considerations for Stakeholder Conversations/ Buy-in, Risk Assessment, and Mitigation Strategies 9:50 Robert S Livingston Questions & Answers

Presentation-Ready Slide Decks and Guidance to Support Research Advocates in Community Outreach

8:00 AM - 10:15 AM Leaders: Tom Leach Moderator: Paula A Clifford Facilitator: Jim Newman As misinformation campaigns continue to erode public trust in science and impact public opinion on animal research, the need for expanded research advocacy increases. A lack of access to effective communication resources is often a hurdle for those interested in participating in outreach. Lab animal professionals will be provided online access to existing resources that can be integrated into outreach events, increasing the number of people involved in community education on the importance of animal research. Speakers will prepare attendees to give their own presentations on various topics related to animal research. For each of the topics below, a presentation-ready slide deck will be shared by the speaker and made available to attendees. Speakers will give an overview of the content and the central messages of the presentation, along with tips for tailoring the presentation for specific audiences. Presentations are designed for various audiences including medical students, NIH trainees, middle and high school students, undergraduates, and animal law students. Topics covered include (1) animal rights and advocacy with a focus on recent animal rights campaigns impacting animal research, finding local campaigns, pro-research organizations and initiatives and creating elevator speeches to advocate for yourself and animal research; (2) career opportunities in laboratory animal medicine, certifications available for various positions, incorporating your experience into the presentation, and resources for finding positions; (3) animal models with an overview of animal research and examples of animal models, finding information about animals involved in the discoveries of specific drugs/treatments, and available resources that may be incorporated into presentation; and (4) animal research ethics and regulations covering the role of animals in advancing science and medicine, an overview of the laws/regulations and governing bodies protecting research animals, and ethics and considerations when evaluating animal research protocols and the risk-benefit ratio.

Speakers/Topics: 8:00 Paula A Clifford Welcome and Introductions 8:15 Logan K France Animal Rights & Advocacy 8:45 Rachelle L Stammen Animal Models in Research 9:15 Thomas D Prevot Animal Research Ethics & Regulations

9:45 Deborah Calantropio-Covington Careers in Laboratory Animal Science

School of Fish: Establishing and Optimizing a Zebrafish Facility

8:00 AM - 10:15 AM Leaders: Tannia S Clark Moderator: Wai Hanson Facilitator: Allison Williams Zebrafish are trending in biomedical research! The number of scientific publications resulting from work done in zebrafish has expanded significantly over the past 10 years, and ACLAM recently reclassified zebrafish as a primary laboratory animal species alongside mice and rats. Zebrafish are an exciting animal model due to the ease of producing unique genotypes and their growing use in a wide array of research areas. With the increasing interest in zebrafish, new research programs are being established in institutions across the country. However, managing zebrafish in a research setting presents unique challenges for laboratory animal professionals. There is a lot to learn when starting up a new zebrafish facility and much the field is continuing to discover as more users get involved. We will provide a guide for establishing and maintaining a high-quality zebrafish program. Attendees will learn about starting up a brand-new facility, best practices for zebrafish rearing and colony health monitoring to ensure optimal health and welfare of the animals, and how to troubleshoot common problems and meet the needs of researchers that work with zebrafish. The target audience is veterinarians, veterinary technicians, aquatic facility managers, aquatic husbandry staff, and researchers that work with zebrafish.

Speakers/Topics: 8:00 Tannia Clark Welcome and Introductions 8:05 Shraddha I Cantara Starting a Zebrafish Program: Novice Successes and Lessons Learned

8:30 Stephen Frederickson Zebrafish Feed and Rearing

8:55 Joshua Barber Troubleshooting Common Facility Problems and Meeting the Needs of Zebrafish Researchers 9:20 Tannia Clark ABC, Easy as 123: Simple Zebrafish Health Monitoring for You and Me This Seminar is sponsored in part by American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM) and American Society for Laboratory Animal Practitioners (ASLAP) Program Committee.

PLATFORM SESSIONS

Tuesday, October 25, 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.

Exhibit Hall Refreshment Break!

9:00 a.m.– 11:00 a.m. Sponsored by Cayuse

TUESDAY MORNING

SPECIAL TOPIC LECTURES

Charles River Ethics and Animal Welfare Lecture: Sharing Care-Full Stories? Interventions for Human and Animal Wellbeing in Research Facilities

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Speaker: Beth Greenhough Moderator: Patricia V Turner Facilitator: TBN While a concern for animal welfare and the 3Rs is well established, there is increasing recognition that this alone is insufficient. The past decade has seen those working in animal research growing more and more concerned about workplace culture and the impact of workplace pressures on both staff and animal wellbeing. Around the world, this is coalescing around efforts to sustain a culture of care in animal research establishments. A culture of care refers to an organizational culture that supports and values caring and respectful behavior towards animals and co-workers. It is both a collective and individual responsibility to ensure that all those working in animal research seek to ‘do the right thing’ ethically and continuously improve their practice. But how do you culture care? Is it about having a strategic vision of a good research facility? Is it about procedures, protocols, and training? How do you seek to change it? As a social scientist who has spent over 10 years talking to those working in animal research in the UK about their experiences, I have found that for animal care staff, managers, and researchers, sharing stories served as an essential way of thinking through the ethical and emotional challenges of their work, including what counts as good care. Inspired by this and working with a group of key stakeholders from the animal research community, I have designed and piloted a new training resource, Care-full Stories, successfully demonstrating how storytelling offers an innovative approach to teaching a culture of care. In this session, participants will be introduced to the culture of care and how it is being used to reimagine and reshape workplace cultures in UK animal research, given an overview of the new training resource and its development, and invited to reflect on how we might seek to culture care in animal research in the future. Participants will learn how social science methods can offer insights into workplace cultures within animal research and how these can inform the design of interventions to improve institutional cultures of care. This Special Topic Lecture is sponsored in part by Charles River.

The Importance of Being Engaged with Your State Lawmakers

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Speaker: Matthew R Bailey Moderator: Richard VanDomelen Facilitator: Steve Burkholder Laboratory animal breeders are an essential part of the health research and discovery process. In the last decade there have been increased efforts by animal rights groups to eliminate or limit the use of animals used for research purposes by having legislation introduced and passed at the federal, state, and local level which makes it more difficult for researchers to obtain the animals necessary for their studies. Many of these laws are aimed at putting restrictions on the lab animal breeders. Animal rights groups believe that if they can eliminate or make it difficult for the businesses that produce animals for research, they can reduce or even eliminate animal studies completely. The purpose of this presentation is to better inform the research community of past and recent efforts by animal rights groups to hinder or eliminate the breeding and sale of animals for research purposes through legislation. It will also give them guidance on how they can help protect the ability of the biomedical research community to ensure that they are able to obtain the animals needed so that their necessary work can continue. The target audience for this session includes all members of the research community, including those representing organizations with business interests or research requirements that depend on the availability of animal models either directly or indirectly. This Special Topic Lecture is sponsored in part by The North American Laboratory Animal Breeders Association (LABA).

Wallace P Rowe Lecture

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Moderator: Kathleen P Storves Speaker and description will be available after the Award Selection Committee selects the Bhatt 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 Committee for Laboratory Animal Research and Teaching (CLATR).

BETH GREENHOUGH CHARLES RIVER LECTURE

Dr. Beth Greenhough is associate professor of geography and Fellow of Keble College, University of Oxford, UK. Her research examines the social implications of scientific innovations in the areas of health, biomedicine, and the environment. Beth is one of the lead researchers on the Wellcome Trust Animal Research Nexus project and has led the development of the Care-full Stories training resource. She has published widely on topics including the culture of care and everyday ethics in animal research, and is co-author of Bodies Across Borders (2015, Ashgate), Health Geographies: A Critical Introduction and Bioinformation.