The Rodent Breeding and Colony Management Seminar and Vendor Fair started when I was a Training Coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania.  The research program was growing and housing space for rodents was becoming prime real estate, as was in most similar institutions.  One day I happened to be walking through one of the buildings between training sessions and began an informal conversation with a research technician.  I asked him how his lab was dealing with the need for more space.  He said, “If I managed my colony better, we would have plenty of space.”  I was shocked and started asking other researchers about their space and colony management practices.  I found the same story over and over again.  Things like genotyping too late, not weaning on time, and other common themes that reflected poor colony management, and therefore, a lot of wasted space.  From then on, I was determined to provide the tools needed for researchers to manage their colonies as efficient as possible to save both space and money.  We invited experts in rodent breeding and colony management, and vendors who provided products or services that could help researchers better manage their colonies and support their research to our first event in 2003.  We invited scientists from outside the institution and it was a success, for both researchers and vendors.  My favorite feedback from a researcher was, “Thank you for getting all this information all in one place!”  My favorite feedback from a vendor was, “I go to the Bio Fair where hundreds of people attend, but I get more people stopping at my table, and more direct leads, at this event.”   After I left Penn in 2009, I knew how much time and work it took to coordinate the event, and how much more training was now being provided by the training group, so ACTS asked the University of Pennsylvania if we could coordinate the event for them.   They said yes and after that we “took the show on the road.”  Since then, ACTS has hosted two events at Penn, one event at Baylor College of Medicine, and one event at Mount Sinai.  We continue to get positive feedback from both participants and vendors, so are happy to continue the event with a wider reach for 2013.

2013 Calendar

Registration is Free!

Written by Laura Klekar – Research Scientist and ACTS Consultant

Working with animals in research can be both rewarding and challenging. There are many different methods utilized in Biomedical Research to obtain scientific data. Collecting data from conscious animals can be one of the most challenging.  Not only is there consideration for the animal’s well-being and for collecting accurate data, but a relationship of cooperation also needs to be developed.

To properly and effectively gather data from a conscious animal, the Research Scientist must create an atmosphere of trust and active engagement with the laboratory animals. One of the main methods of creating this atmosphere is through a positively reinforced training and enrichment program. Without an effective training program in place that utilizes positive reinforcement, collecting data on a conscious animal can become time-consuming, difficult, result in needless repetition and may require the use of more animals. All of these go against the three R’s- Refinement, Reduce and Reuse.

There is always a need on Biomedical Research for high quality data while still maintaining high standards and adhering to regulations. Developing thought out procedures that include well-planned training programs leads to better data and adherence to regulations while maintaining the spirit of the 3R’s. Training programs that involve working with conscious animals need to consider many factors including– human and animal’s safety, the animal’s natural behaviors, time, research requirements and government regulations and policy.  The type of animal involved in the study will also determine the nature of the training program. Some lab animals such as rabbits, rats and guinea pigs may require only a few training periods before data collection. Lab animals such as dogs, primates, pigs and cats require more training sessions before they are ready for data collection.

During my years as a Research Scientist I have conducted conscious animal studies on rabbits, rats, guinea pigs, cats and NHP. All have their own unique challenges and methods. However, with all species, there is a designated time period in which the animal needs to acclimate to transport, handing, restraint and the data collection procedures. A guinea pig or rabbit may just take a couple of days, where a cat or NHP can take years before quality data is obtained, depending on the data collection methods. Developing trust and cooperation require patience, time, and understanding of the specie’s behaviors. Before any animal is taken to the next step in the training and acclimation process, the animal should accept the previous step with minimal stress. This is truly a step-by-step process.

While preparing animals for conscious experiments may take additional time, it also helps eliminate certain factors that can possibly interfere with data results. The Research Scientist is able to gather data that may otherwise be compromised by sedatives, anesthesia or undue stress. Those who go through the process of acclimating and training their research animals to conscious study procedures may find that they are able to reduce stress in the animals while creating a more pleasant experience for all involved.

When was the last time you were so sure of yourself you made a guarantee?  I was a junior in high school when a good buddy and I sat in the cafeteria at the beginning of the school year and made a guaranteed that by the December break we would both be seriously dating someone.   By December only one of us had a date for the Christmas party.

Imagine going on an interview and telling the hiring manager, “I am the best person for this job and if you don’t think so, by the end of the probation period not only will I be happy to walk out at these doors never to look back, but I will also return all the money paid during the probation period”.

It’s one thing to make a guarantee and a whole other thing to offer money back. Does this sound like a stretch to you?  You may be willing to walk after the probation period.  But to give the money back, maybe not.

For the record, we need to confirm that most people making this claim do NOT intend to give the money back.   The money back guarantee is made to imply that others will be completely satisfied with the services or products promised.

So how does one make a money back guarantee?

1. Know your abilities.

2. Commit to doing nothing less than your best (all the time).

3. Broadcast your commitment.

4. Be willing to give the money back.

I recently heard a real estate agent say that in all the many years he offered a money back guarantee on the services provided, he only had one client that wanted their money back.  Can you put a money back guarantee on the work you do?  Think about what that would look like for you.  But remember that actually giving the money back is the fourth step in the process; steps 1-3 are equally important and I would dare say even more.  Could you walk into your place of work and proclaim to your manager “You will be completely satisfied with the work I provide from this day forward or I will give your money back”?  Well if you’re not quite there yet; no problem.  Here’s what you do:

1.Think about your skills in relation to your job.  If they’re awesome, you’re in good shape. If not, what training or coaching do you need to seek out to get your skills in line with your job?

2. Once your skills are in line with your job, do your best all the time every day.

3. Now it’s time to make your declaration,” I will do this job to your expectations and satisfaction…”.

And then you can say, with confidence, “…and if you aren’t completely satisfied I will give you your money back”.

My colleague and I are finishing up a leadership workshop entitled “Becoming a Better Leader”.   I was thinking that in order to be better at something you have to acknowledge what you do and then actively decided to improve.  The workshop will be good for any leader or aspiring leader wanting to improve their effectiveness and influence as a leader.  But for this article I want to consider what it takes to become “better” in any area of our lives.

How do we become better at what we do?  Do we always want to become better at what we do?  Maybe you are as good as you are going to get in a certain area, only you know that.  Maybe if you get too good at what you do people will notice and you can really make a positive impact on the world around you.   Becoming better raises the bar of what is standard.  Raising the bar takes effort and active intention.  My parents wanted to make me a better piano player so they made me practice every day after dinner for 30minutes.  I thought I would die, 30 minutes felt cruel, like punishment.  It was there at that piano bench I mastered the art of procrastination.  I didn’t become a better piano player.  In high school my piano teacher inspired my desire to become better when she gave me a piece of music to learn that I liked.  I decided it was time to raise the bar. It took work but eventually 30 minutes felt like 3 and now I play all the time and am getting better.

Becoming better, in any area of our lives is always a good thing.  What is that important thing you do and how can you do it better?  Alan Weiss says don’t focus on the things you don’t need to do well focus on the things you need to do well and do them better.

Certainly how you become better will vary.  Reading more about your area of interest/expertise, practicing your art, taking classes, getting degrees or certification all making you better at what you do.  And finally you have to just do it! Take all that you have learned and all of that practice and get out there and make it happen.  Do you want to be a better leader?  Learn what that looks like for you, close the door to what you used to do that didn’t work and go forward with the intention of being a better leader.

In any area of our lives becoming better takes an acknowledgement of what we would like to improve, a commitment of effort to get better and a dedication to hang in there until you are better.

I just caught myself sitting at my desk waiting for the “spray”.  The “spray” is what happens after the poop hits the fan; that event that forces me to get out of the way (do something) or get “sprayed”.  I don’t want to get “sprayed”.   Yet how often do I wait until I have to do something before I do something.  For the record, I’m preaching to the choir, and the choir really can use the preaching.  I am the choir!

What do you want to see happen for you?  What do you want to achieve?  What is that dream that is growing inside of you waiting to be birthed?  Are you moving in the direction that will get you there or are you waiting for someone or something to provide the initiative to get you to move?

I am thinking of all the institutions in this country that could benefit from the services that ACTS provides.  Instead of seeing all the possibilities of success in the past and future, I am intimidated by “NO”; those institutions that would hear of what we do and how we help, yet choose not to use our services. Even if I believe the cause for the “NO” is worthy and agreeable, I just don’t want to hear them say it.  The word “no” sometimes feels like failure and failure doesn’t always feel good.  So what do I do? I just wait.  I wait because I want to believe that sooner or later the poop will hit the fan for them and they will get the spray and come running.  But that’s not likely either.

Sure, people find themselves in tough situations all the time and in need of help.  In the grand scheme of things people need to know that ACTS exists prior to the poop hitting the fan. When institutions don’t have time to investigate us and make sure they are getting the service needed, they will turn to a name they know and trust and that name might not be ACTS.

So here is what I do:  I position ACTS in front of them and politely tell them who we are, what we do and how we may be able to help.  I ask past and existing clients to create endorsements of how engaging with ACTS has helped them. It’s our desire to help institutions avoid those crisis situations where they are forced to get help.  Although this feels self-serving, it is and it should be.

If it’s going to be then it’s completely up to me. – Daniel Hardy

What dream are you sitting on? What is in front of you that must be done?  If you find you are waiting for that moment, maybe that moment is now and now is the time to start taking the first steps toward your purpose and dreams.  If it doesn’t work straight out of the gate: no worries any dream or any goal worth its merit is worth failing for a few times.

As we all sit in well lighted rooms, take a second and realize that Thomas Edison had well over 5000 failures with the light bulb before he finally got it right.  I think we can handle a few failures as they will provide the fuel and drive to persevere.  So choir/(me) no more waiting for the spray; it’s time to move toward our purpose and dreams.

  Animal Welfare Training in China

ACTS was given the opportunity to provide a basic laboratory animal science course at the Shanghai College of Agriculture and Forestry to 3^rd year Animal Science students.  Our training focused primarily on commonly used animals/mammals in research (rodents, rabbits, dogs and nonhuman primates).  The logistics to actually get us to China and provide this training were monumental and could not have been accomplished without the heroic efforts of Jayne Mackta at GR8 and all of the organizations that support her endeavors.

What may have been a fairly routine training program here in theUSturned out to be much more complex when transported toChina.  There were so many questions unanswered that at times we wondered how this would ever work.  How many students will be in the class? Will any of them understand our English? If we get our training materials translated, will the translation be accurate?  What will the lab space look like?  Where will the animals for the labs come from and in what condition will they be?  Will our supplies arrive in time and will they be able to get the anesthetic drugs we need for the lab?  Did I mention if the students will understand our English?

The good thing about having the distraction of developing and coordinating this training program is that we never had a chance to over think the reality of spending almost 3 weeks in a hotel on a college campus 40 minutes south of Shanghai, China with little Western influence.

Now that it’s all behind us, there are a few reflections we feel worth sharing.

There are many in China that are passionately committed to promoting  animal welfare training at all levels of animal care; from the classroom to the laboratory to the board room –  people are talking about animal welfare.

The students were extremely interested in learning the basics of laboratory animal science.  Without exception, each of the students demonstrated a greater understanding of animal welfare by the end of the course.  As is the case with any school, there will be some in the course that may not go on to a career in laboratory animal science. But for those that do, we were able to provide a foundation of understanding as well as basic technical competence that can be taken to the next stage in their career.

The surface of opportunities for collaborating in teaching and training has just barely been scratched.  Our program was able to touch the lives of 23 students, 4 assistant trainers, 2 translators and several faculty and staff at the college.   We are excited at the prospect of going back and providing more focused training for the faculty at the college so that our efforts there will be sustainable over time as the faculty eventually take over the administration of this laboratory animal science program.   We were reminded that this is just one school out of many that can and will benefit from such a program.

Animal welfare is important inChinaand without exception the people we worked with were eager to do their best in demonstrating this fact.  Like the US with its varied views on how animals are valued, China is a big country with lots of people also demonstrating varying ideas on the value of animals in their society.  On our last day inChina, we had a large celebratory meal with senior administration from the college and leaders from local animal research institutions.  We all expressed our joy for the success of the program and the future of laboratory animal care and welfare inChina.  I couldn’t help but notice that the center piece of this lavish table was three fish bowls. (Much of the discussion was in Mandarin, so I had plenty of time to take-in my surroundings). The center most bowl, and largest of the three, had a dead fish floating at the water’s surface.  One of the smaller bowls had a few fish that were clearly on “their last leg/fin”.  Penetrating all ofChinawith this important message of promoting animal welfare is overwhelming.  So we will do our part with the people we can influence, and hope their influence will be much further reaching than ours.  And just maybe on our next visit, we will be able to report that even the fish are alive and well.

Rodent Breeding and Colony Management Seminar & Vendor Fair provided education for over 150 attendees about how to breed rodents and manage colonies effectively. Vendors that provide products and services that support rodent care or research brought an additional level of education through formal presentations and exhibits.

Presentations from this event will be available soon.

If you would like to host this event at your institution (at no charge), please contact us at info@actstraining.com

This question is directed to you. Yes I know we have people around us that we are sometimes charged with helping to motivate. My premise is that if we ask and answer this question first for ourselves it may be easier to ask the question to others. So What Motivates You? Is it time, money, fame, freedom or promotion? Perhaps there are other things that motivate you.
What is motivation? Let’s define it as some stimulus that causes one to do something. We often talk about motivation as something that has a positive connotation. Motivation can be perceived as positive or negative depending on one’s perspective. We have seen cases were animals are motivated by deprivation. Deprive an animal of water or food and they will be motivated to perform when offered food or water. Service people are motivated to work harder and with more vigor when they know they are soon to be furloughed to visit their loved ones. Athletes push themselves beyond their known limits when their goal is just within reach. Conversely a store clerk will readily turn over the keys to the safe when confronted by a potential burglar wielding a weapon.
In the absence of deprivation and the threat of bodily harm, what motivates you? Have you ever banged your head against a wall trying to figure out what motivates the people around you? Typically we are concerned about people’s motivation because we want them to perform whether it’s to do their job with more passion or successfully complete an exam. Even when our interest in another’s performance is altruistic, just wanting it for their own good, we often struggle when we see people that appear to be “un”-motivated. This still doesn’t answer the question – what motivates you? Have you ever banged your head against a wall trying to figure out what motivates you? Here’s the thing: only you know what will motivate you. Others may make attempts to determine your motivators but only you know what really works. What do you need, what do you want and what are you willing to do to acquire those things?
For example, I want to impress the site visitors so I will work really long hours and run my staff ragged to ensure the best possible chance they will be impressed. The motivator for me is having the site visitors impressed. What I am willing to do is push hard to get things up to the standard I believe will be impressive. Here’s another example: I am in need of more money to support the growing needs of my life. In order to get more money I will get certifications that will increase my chance of promotion and greater income. What motivates you and I will most likely vary based on our current needs. So once we understand what our wants and motivations are it’s easier to appreciate how the motivation of others may vary.
Do you want to know what motivates others? Ask them! Ask people what they need, what they want and then what they are willing to do to achieve it. Some may come out and tell you directly but others may not. Allow me to repeat myself – motivators will vary with individuals. Some are motivated by money, others are motivated by opportunity for advancement and others are motivated by educational opportunities. Making assumptions only leaves us frustrated. Motivators will change as our needs and wants change. Taking the time to find out what you and your people want will greatly improve your ability to stay motivated and empower others to do the same.

Hosted by University Laboratory Animal Resources, University of Pennsylvania

RSVP Here

• Educational Seminars on Transgenic Technology and Rodent Breeding
• Formal Vendor 15min Presentations
• Complimentary Lunch
• Vendor Fair

When: Tuesday, August 9th, 2011 @ 9am-4pm. Registration check-in at 8:30am

Where: University of Pennsylvania - Bio-medical Research Building (BRB) II/III, 421 Curie Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19104

Cost: Free!

Session Topics:

Mouse Tales: Introduction to Mouse Breeding and Colony Management

More Tails from the Crypt: Advance Mouse Colony Management

Cryopreservation, Genotyping, and more!

Interested in participating as a vendor? Register Here

Questions? Contact William Singleton at William@ACTStraining.com