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August 2023

Animal Care Newsletter

Dear Research Community,


We hope you are having a wonderful summer with opportunity to spend some quality time with your family and friends! As you soak up that warm sun, sit back, relax and scroll through the summer issue of the Animal Care newsletter. We have a lot to share with you!


Firstly, we are very excited to announce Dr. Jeetendra Eswaraka has been appointed Vice-President of Universitywide Core Services. In this role, Dr. Eswaraka will work with the Chancellor led units to help define policy for core services at Rutgers, provide guidance on core governance, compliance and reporting requirements for cores, annual financial reporting to the administration on the various cores at Rutgers. In addition, he will be providing direct oversight of the Medicinal Chemistry, In Vivo biomolecular imaging and research pathology services that currently serve the needs of the faculty across our different campuses. He will continue to serve as the University attending veterinarian for our animal care program. We wish him the best of luck in these new endeavors. 


Some of the highlights for this issue included the following:

Operational Dashboard


One of the key tools needed to ensure our facilities are operating most efficiently is having access to real-time aggregated data and metrics all in one place. That said, we are in the process of developing an operational dashboard in conjunction with Animal Care, Research IT and Research Analytics. The goal of this dashboard is to give managers and leadership team needed visibility, monitor KPIs, and discover opportunities.


Key information will include:


  • Tracking cage capacity at room and facility level
  • Labor productivity - give managers the ability to assign tasks based on volume and needs across facilities
  • Various metrics that will shows efficiencies across all the cores


Sneak peek is below.


Digitizing Animal Care's Vivarium


We are working with Tecniplast to explore the benefits of the Digital Ventilated Cage (DVC) system for use in our facilities. DVC is a cloud based analytics monitoring program that collects animal activity data directly from home cages, allowing researchers to observe animal related activity data 24/7. We encourage you to visit Digital-Cage Tecniplast to see how the DVC platform benefits you and your research. Stay tuned for more details in the near future!

Internal RFID Application


Another exciting application our team is working on is development of an internal RFID system. Under the new in-house system, there will be a seamless rollout with no impact to the normal facility operations, however, users will benefit from cage scans being in real-time instead of end of day as it currently stands and the new system will give the ability to reuse previously checked out cage cardsThis application will further have the capability to track aquatics species and caging equipment.We are looking to release the application in October 2023.

Room and Equipment Reservations in iLab


With successful integration of various technical services and supply requests in iLab, we now look to migrate room and equipment reservation process in iLab starting September 1st. Use of eIACUC will no longer be in use for room reservations September 1st onwards. You will also see QR codes posted outside each reservable procedure rooms for quicker, more prompt reservations and easy access to calendar in iLab. Refer to the communication sent to all the animal users for further information.



New Faculty Highlights

Veronika Miskolci, Ph.D

Assistant Professor, Center for Cell Signaling

Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

New Jersey Medical School | Newark 



Veronika has a long-standing interest in innate immunity and inflammation. She studied the role of NFkB and IL-10 in human neutrophils in context of Bronchopulmonary dysplasia as a technician in the laboratory of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Schneider Children’s Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center (now Cohen Children’s Medical Center, Northwell Health). She went on to complete her thesis work at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Here, she studied the role of Rho GTPases in macrophage chemotaxis in vitro using FRET-based biosensors under the guidance of Drs. Dianne Cox and Louis Hodgson. During her postdoctoral studies, she trained to use larval zebrafish as an in vivo model of inflammation in the laboratory of Anna Huttenlocher at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work focused on neutrophil-macrophage interaction during resolution of inflammation. This work involved characterizing the metabolic state of macrophages during wound response following infected and sterile injuries.


In collaboration with Melissa Skala, she demonstrated that autofluorescence lifetime imaging of endogenous metabolic coenzymes, NAD(P)H and FAD, is a sensitive label-free method to detect dynamic changes in the intracellular metabolism of macrophages in a live animal, without having to remove macrophages for ex vivo analysis. The small size and optical transparency of larval zebrafish make this animal model readily combine with most imaging applications. At Rutgers NJMS, she will continue to study the metabolic regulation of innate immunity during inflammation and tissue repair using larval zebrafish. She will continue to apply autofluorescence lifetime imaging and other quantitative imaging-based approaches to study immunometabolism at the single-cell level.


Igor Shmarakov, Ph.D., Sc.D.

Department of Animal Sciences

School of Environmental & Biological Sciences

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey



Igor Shmarakov is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal Sciences in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University. He earned his Ph.D. and Sc.D. in Biochemistry in Ukraine and completed his postdoctoral training in Nutritional Biochemistry in Dr. William S. Blaner’s lab at Columbia University while receiving a Fulbright Faculty Development Award.


For many years, the focus of Igor’s research has been on understanding the metabolic and signaling role of retinoids (vitamin A and its metabolites). Specifically, his research is directed toward understanding the molecular mechanisms of how retinoids, as well as retinoid-interacting proteins, are involved in maintaining cellular function in the lung, liver, and adipose, and how the disruption of retinoid metabolism and signaling contributes to the development of the disease. 


The Shmarakov lab is currently working on two major projects. The first project is aimed at gaining a molecular understanding of retinoid metabolism in the adult lung. A substantial number of experimental studies involving animal models or cell culture approaches have identified the molecular functions for all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), a transcriptionally active retinoid species, and its three nuclear hormone receptors (RARα, RARβ, and RARγ) in pre- and post-natal lung development and adult lung health. However, there is a gap in understanding the molecular processes taking place in-between the consumption of vitamin A from the diet and ATRA actions within individual lung cells. This is why many approaches aimed at alleviating human lung disease with retinoids have been based on either supplementation with mega-doses of dietary vitamin A or supraphysiological doses of ATRA and ultimately have not been successful due to toxicity. This underscores the significance of this project, which aims to expand understanding of retinoid actions in the adult lung with the long-term goal of targeting retinoid metabolism and signaling to mitigate lung disease, including inflammatory acute lung injury (ALI), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung fibrosis.



The second project is focused on examining the role of retinoids and ATRA signaling as molecular targets responsible for mediating the obesogenic effects of environmental pollutants or so-called endocrine disruptors on adipose tissue and whole-body energy metabolism, and how they contribute to the development of diabetes and metabolic disease.


The Shmarakov lab extensively utilizes transgenic animal models, including whole-body knockouts and transgenics generated by Cre-loxP gene editing, to address important research questions of vitamin A physiology in the context of specific cells and tissues. These models include genetically modified animals that are either unable to store vitamin A in their tissues or have impaired transport of vitamin A in the body due to the lack of specific transport proteins and cell-surface receptors, or have blocked cell-specific ATRA-mediated signaling. 


The Shmarakov lab is open to collaborations. We believe that by bringing an understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying alterations as well as disease processes resulting from impaired retinoid metabolism and signaling, these studies will drive and direct the long-term research goal of developing effective nutritional and pharmacologically-targeted interventions that can counteract the adverse human health effects.


Igor Shmarakov, Ph.D., Sc.D.

Department of Animal Sciences

School of Environmental & Biological Sciences

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

59 Dudley Road, Foran Hall 326

New Brunswick, NJ 08901

tel.:+1 (848) 932-5617

e-mail: ishmarakov@sebs.rutgers.edu

https://animalsciences.rutgers.edu/faculty/shmarakov/


Training Update

The training team completed their second semester of the 3-credit undergraduate course - In Vivo Techniques. This is an academic course in which students gain didactic and hands-on experience working with rats and mice. We look to continue offering this course as well as other training course options in the future.

One of the newest initiatives by the training team is distribution of digital badges for the IVT course. Introduced by Rutgers, digital badge is an electronic way to document students expertise and mastery in a particular area. Earning these badges gives students the ability to increase their engagement with potential employers by attaching them on online platforms such as LinkedIn or on email signatures. Animal Care's training team distributed its first 27 digital badges to students for its IVT course. These students completed rigorous training schedule and got "certified" by the training team!

Recognition


Animal Care's training team won multiple awards at the Laboratory Animal Welfare Training Exchange (LAWTE) 2023 Biennial Conference held in Pittsburgh, PA. Purpose of these awards was to recognize individuals, group or an organization for their outstanding achievement in the laboratory animal training area.

Top Program Award:


RUAC Training Program


Criteria included commitment to continuing education, assessment proficiency, encouraging AALAS certifications, and emphasis on the 3Rs in training methods.

Top Development Award:


Lauren Bright and Mariel Nigro for the IVT course


Criteria included having an influential training curriculum, influencing training webinars, tools and resources available in the laboratory animal field.

Impact Award:


Tracy Davis


Criteria included commitment to continuing education through certifications, level of engagement in training program, encouraging others to become a learner in laboratory animal science work.

Nominated for Rookie of the Year Award


Yvonne Lim


Award recognizing outstanding trainer in the laboratory animal field with less than 2 years in the field.

First Residents Graduate from Animal Care's Residency Program


Animal Care had its first inaugural batch of veterinary residents officially graduate from the Laboratory Animal Medicine Residency Program. The graduation celebration was held on June 21st at Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine where graduates were presented with diplomas by Dr. Michael Zwick, and acknowledgments from Dr. Jeetendra Eswaraka, Dr. Bhupinder Singh and Dr. Lauren Bright.


Our 2023 graduating residents include: Drs. Joyce Stuckey, Sally Makhija, Erica Lachenauer, and Julia Herbert. Excitingly two of the residents have joined our Rutgers team, Dr. Joyce Stuckey as Clinical Veterinarian and Dr. Julia Herbert as Clinical Research Veterinarian.


Core Highlights

Gnotobiotic Core

The Gnotobiotics core has officially transitioned to the use of flexible-film isolators with no contaminations reported since November 2022! The transition from IVC cages into large flexible-film isolators will increase the supply of germfree mice available to better support more germfree studies for investigators across the Rutgers Campuses.


The core has also invested in specialized germfree transport cages to move germfree mice to multiple locations to make mice readily available for investigators.


As a reminder, Gnotobiotic core provides following technical services to investigators utilizing the core:


  • Colony management breeding assistance
  • Fecal collection
  • Oral gavage
  • Re-derivation of mice


Any of these services can be requested through iLab. You may also contact the Gnotobiotic team via gnotobiotic@research.rutgers.edu if you any questions or require more information.

In Vivo Research Services

As we continue to expand our core services, IVRS recently obtained the following two equipment that are available to investigators for services related to behavior or neurologic experiments. Please contact the IVRS team for more information on its usage or scheduling details.

The Bussey-Saksida Touch Screen Chambers is designed to facilitate efficient and high-throughput cognitive evaluation for Rats and Mice.

The Neurostar Robotic Stereotaxic device can perform Intracerebroventricular (ICV) injections, cannulation or craniotomy. 

Staff Introductions

Dr. Kennedy Miller

Resident Veterinarian


Kennedy started at Rutgers as a Resident Veterinarian in July 2023 and is an alumnus of Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine. She has several years of experience in private practice and is passionate about continuing her education and training in lab animal medicine at Rutgers.

Dr. Al Feinberg

Veterinary Intern


Originally from the suburbs of Philadelphia, Al recently graduated in May 2023 from Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. This summer Al accepted a new position as a 1-year veterinary intern at Rutgers University, part of the Laboratory Animal/Comparative Medicine Residency Training Program. She has several years of companion animal experience as a veterinary technician in both general practice and emergency medicine, along with three years of biomedical research experience while completing her veterinary/graduate degree. Her career plans are to continue training as a resident in Laboratory Animal Medicine following completion of the internship. Al is excited to be back on the east coast and looks forward to working with and joining the Rutgers CMR team.

Meghana Anandarangam

Veterinary Technician


Meghana joined CMR in May of 2023 as a Veterinary technician on the North campus. Meg grew up in New Jersey and received her BA from Muhlenberg College, PA. She found her love for animals after spending a lot of her childhood at her grandfather’s animal hospital which her uncle later took over. She enjoys cooking, fishing, traveling, and spending time with her one and a half Siberian huskies, Nanook and Meena. 

Matt Tallman

Application Designer


Matt joined Animal Care in February 2022. He obtained a Master’s degree in Software Engineering from Monmouth University and a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from The College of New Jersey. Matt specializes in Android application development for mobile devices where he is currently working on several applications to improve user experience and capture vivarium data in a digital format. This includes utilizing barcode, QR, and RFID technologies throughout Animal Care facilities and centralizing collected data within the Rutgers Digital Vivarium in real time.

Jeremy Eckardt

Business Assistant


Jeremy is a graduate of Rutgers University, with an MBA in Marketing Research Insights & Analytics. He completed a 20-month internship at Groupe SEB, the world's largest manufacturer of cookware products, in Marketing and E-Commerce Operations. At Groupe SEB, Jeremy helped their new product innovation team in developing and marketing new cooking appliances and helped their E-commerce team improve its digital sales capabilities. Outside of his professional business roles, Jeremy worked as a full-time tennis coach for over 10 years. In his current role as Business Assistant in the Animal Care department, Jeremy analyzes data and prepares internal financial reports!

Connect with Us
If you would like to contribute, share research-related news, events, or simply have feedback, send us a message at ruac@research.rutgers.edu. We'd love to hear from you!