Fast Tracks | Abstract submission

Animals have contributed to nearly every medical breakthrough in recent history, including treatments for cancer, diabetes, and AIDS, and they continue to play an essential role in the development of life-saving drugs for people and other animals. The welfare of the animals contributing to research is of utmost importance and a prerequisite for the accuracy, reliability, and translatability of our research. Share your best practices around the 3Rs, behavioural & environmental enrichment or humane caring.

As Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” While COVID-19 has amplified the visibility of potential threats to the research community, even before the pandemic laboratory animal science colleagues faced a myriad of possible risks - be them biosecurity related, loss of precious strains due to internal/external implications, or loss of phenotype due to errors in breeding/genotyping. This learning stream will help keep you up to date with the latest in techniques and advice including how to make best use of your resources and mitigating risk.

The human body is home to trillions of microorganisms known collectively as the microbiome. Technically, there are many microbiomes that help make up a single person; your skin, gut, nasal cavities, etc... The organisms that make up our microbiome(s) work together to help accomplish many things, such as: digesting our food, producing necessary vitamins, regulating our immune system, protecting us against other agents that cause disease, plus other actions still yet to be discovered. So, what does this mean for research and why should we care? Any changes to our microbiome(s) can lead to a dysbiosis resulting in sometimes severe consequences to the overall health of a body. Even slight changes may cause downstream affects to things such as drug metabolism, immunity, therapeutic response, and more. Science is about understanding all the variables. Good science means paying attention to how those variables, including our microbiome(s), affect the overall system and in turn the treatments/cures we’re trying to create.

For research, reproducibility is critical. The presence of infectious agents could introduce variables which might change the outcome of your research. Routine health surveillance for the detection of pathogens and screening of research biologics are vital considerations, but which methods are appropriate? A modern health monitoring program may include strategies that reduce or replace the use of traditional soiled bedding sentinels. The evolution of rodent diagnostics to harness the power of PCR make this possible. Direct sampling and/or Exhaust Air Dust (EAD®) testing are effective alternatives to screen for infectious agents without relying on transmission to sentinels. Cell lines can be screened prior to use to prevent the introduction of pathogens. The end result? You can focus on what’s important – your research.

“Think of digital transformation less as a technology project to be finished than as a state of perpetual agility, always ready to evolve for whatever customers want next, and you’ll be pointed down the right path.” -Amit Zavery, VP and Head of Platform, Google Cloud. Technology is integrated in our daily life and we depend (maybe too much?) on it to run smoothly. This track will highlight how the digital age has transformed the vivarium. What have digital technologies enabled you to achieve? What paths did you try and what discoveries did you make along your digital journey? Share with your colleagues your successes and your challenges by submitting an abstract to “Monitoring the Digital Vivarium.”

Have you been working on something so exciting that you can’t wait to share on your next Zoom call? Please submit an “emerging, hot topic” abstract related to animal health or laboratory animal science. This track will offer a compilation of your most compelling topics that will be sure to engage audiences and maybe even trend on Twitter.

If you have any questions regarding abstract submissions please contact Jamie Wilton (jamie.wilton@crl.com)