Dear Research Community,
Upon retirement of Dr. David Kimball, we are very excited to have leadership of Dr. Kathleen Scotto, as Interim Senior Vice President for Research and as our new Institutional Official (IO). Dr. Scotto’s role as Institutional Official is mandated by both OLAW and the USDA. IACUC office has notified both agencies and AAALAC of this program change.
Also, over the past six months the IACUC office has been focused on reducing administrative burden and one way we have achieved this goal is by eliminating duplicative regulatory registrations. We have currently combined Rutgers two AAALAC registrations and two OLAW assurances into one. Within the next three to six months, we are also working towards combining the two USDA registrations into a single registration. Additionally, the IACUC office has began preparing for the next AAALAC site visit, planned for spring 2022.
IACUC office would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate:
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Dr. Damir Hamamdzic for achieving CPIA certification in December 2020. Well done, Damir!
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Leslie Bird - The IACUC office recently added Leslie Bird, CVT, LATg as IACUC Compliance Administrator in order to broaden the PAM program at Rutgers. While Leslie has been at Rutgers for many years, she has only been with the IACUC office for a few months but has already been an enormous help to the group.
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The Chiou laboratory, located in CINJ was founded right before the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Currently the group has three members: Dr. Shin-Heng Chiou (Shin), Dr. Sai Zhang, and Irene Molina.
Before joining the Rutgers community, Shin received his postdoctoral training at the Genetics Department of Stanford University, focused on pancreatic cancer studies using genetically engineered mouse (GEM) models. During this period, he pioneered a surgical procedure that enabled the in vivo application of the CRISPR-Cas9 method in the pancreatic GEM mice. This allowed him to introduce engineered genetic changes into cancer cells developed under the physiologically relevant setting and bypass the need to breed multiple alleles together. Shin is working with Irene to develop a reporter system for a genome-wide screen to identify regulators of hypoxia-induced chromatin changes. Combined with the GEM models he brought to Rutgers, his group is working tirelessly to uncover important players behind the metastatic proclivity exacerbated by the intratumoral hypoxia.
In addition to the pancreatic study, the Chiou lab is also focusing on understanding the T cell specificities in human epithelial malignancies. Currently, both Sai and Irene are building a mammalian cell-based screen platform for T cell antigen discovery. The ultimate goal of this effort is to discover T cell receptor (TCR) clones with great clinical significance and further use this to develop TCR-T cell therapy for cancer patients. The group is working closely with Dr. Christian Hinrichs who was recently recruited to Rutgers and is renowned for his expertise in TCR-T cell therapy in various solid cancers.
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The Animal Care Training Team has been hard at work during the past year creating virtual training opportunities for both North and South Campuses. Due to pandemic restrictions, in-person group training sessions were suspended but training must go on!
Video trainings are available for a variety of topics, such as “How to use ACFC,” “Proper Usage of Charcoal Gas Scavenge Canisters,” “How to use a Biosafety Cabinet,” and “Cage Changing Practices for Researchers.” Additional training videos are in development and will be added to the CRS soon!
The training team is also available for small group or one-on-one training sessions on a variety of topics and techniques. If you do not see a course listing on CRS that addresses your needs, email the Training Coordinator for your campus to schedule a training session.
New training updates:
South Campus: Aseptic Techniques course is now mandatory on South Campus for all new animal surgeons. This change includes mandatory online training modules, a virtual training session, and a surgical observation. More information will be available soon on our website.
North and South Campuses: All those with genotyping or breeding on their protocol will be required to watch the genotyping training video. This training video will be added to the CRS website under “Virtual Training” the first week of May.
Happy Learning!
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Animal Husbandry Announcements |
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After 45+ years in the lab animal field, Husbandry Manager Dave Miller retired on April 1, 2021. Join us in thanking Dave for all his years of dedicated service as we wish him well in his retirement.
Certified Animal Care Technician Amanda Rangle retired on December 31, 2020 after more than 33 years of steadfast animal care. We wish her well and all the best on her retirement!
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CROSS TRAINING OF STAFF AND SUPERVISORS |
The initial pandemic restrictions and staff furloughs provided an accelerated opportunity to cross train seasoned animal care staff in new locations such as CHI, RT, LCR and Bartlett. Seventy-five percent of the husbandry supervisory staff were rotated to new “home bases” and exposed to new responsibilities in other vivariums, which augmented the departmental goals for the supervisors. |
EFFICIENCIES MADE FOLLOWING LEAN MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL
Elimination of Satellite Rodent Room in SPH
Rats have now been consolidated in one room of the vivarium, which eliminates a satellite colony room. This allows research, animal care, and veterinary staff to make more efficient use of time by working with the animals exclusively in the centralized colony rooms of the vivarium.
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REDUCTION OF SERVICE CALL COSTS AND EQUIPMENT DOWNTIME |
In the Research Tower vivarium, face-timing with the cage wash and bulk sterilizer vendor to help troubleshoot the equipment and walk the staff through the corrective actions issues is a huge time and money saver! Instead of having the machines possibly down for 2-3 days, in many cases we can have them back up and running in just 2-3 hours! By video conferencing, CMR saves on the cost to have the service technician come out and troubleshoot the machine. |
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Novel Approach for Housing Rodents with Head Implants
By: Nancy Rossi, BS, RLATG, Animal Facility Supervisor
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Before I became a supervisor for Comparative Medicine Resources animal facilities, I spent numerous years caring for the large animals at Rutgers Animal Care. My experience in the barns taught me the fine art of “farmerizing,” which I carried over with me to the animal research facilities. This practice is both economically and environmentally friendly as it finds uses for equipment and materials that may otherwise be considered trash. |
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One of my proudest “inventions” is the outside water bottle rodent cage. After transferring to the Nelson Biological Labs animal facility several years ago I became aware of a substantial amount of research involving the implantation of probes into rodent brains (Figure 1).
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Depending on the size and orientation of these probes, normal housing conditions were not an option. Larger probes would hit the wire bar lid that provides food and a water bottle to these animals, so different methods needed to be used. |
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The current situation (Figure 2) involved a sideways water bottle on a hook with a curved sipper tube that entered through the ventilation hole. In theory this was a good method but had several drawbacks. Using the ventilation hole prevented the animals from being housed in an IVC rack.
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The constant air changes in a ventilated rack are much healthier for the animals and allow for less cage changing and disturbance. While living in a static covered box, the mice needed to be moved to a new home twice a week and had to "redecorate." Current IVC racks allow for mice to remain in their current conditions for two weeks and prevents unnecessary handling by an animal technician. Another problem with this method was gravity. If the bottle and sipper tube were not properly placed in a slightly downward position, water would not flow, no matter how hard the mice tried. This is a serious concern that can quickly lead to poor research results, dehydration, stress, and ultimately death if not caught in time. There had to be a better way! |
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After seeing these obstacles, I was on a mission to find a new method to house these mice. With the help of the very handy Rutgers Animal Care Farm Shop Supervisor, Dan (who also happens to be my husband), we fabricated old stainless feeders from hanging wire bottom rodent racks (Figure 3).
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Due to new regulations and the realization that rodents thrive better on solid bottom cages, these racks and feeders were currently in the animal facility "graveyard." Manipulating these feeders to work was rather simple. The bottom inch was cut so it became the same size as a standard mouse shoebox. The hanging area on the top was bent flush with the top and slits were cut on either side to allow for the ventilated cover to sit flush and remain secure. The final step was the box itself. To allow the box to remain in an IVC rack, the water bottle had to enter through the front. After taking exact measurements, a half-inch hole was drilled into the lower right corner of each box. These boxes and IVC racks had also been in the graveyard as they were the old high-top ventilated cover racks no longer in use. The high top is ideal for this purpose as the mice cannot get to the top and chew the filter. The high tops also allow enough room for the bottles on the outside to sit more upright. |
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After the manipulated feeder and lid are placed on the box, an 8-ounce water bottle is hung from the outside with the sipper tube going through the small hole in the box (Figure 4). The angle allows for a constant water flow and sits secure in the holder.
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The final caveat is providing food. For these cages, small glass mason jar bowls are filled with chow and placed in the box. This has a dual purpose as a food holder and shelter enrichment method as the mice often sit inside and make a nest. Normal igloo type shelters had not been an option due to the probes. The completed cages can be used in static shelf rack conditions or placed in an IVC rack (Figure 5).
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Since the implementation of these cages two years ago, Nelson has provided them to several researchers in both the DLS and Genetics Departments and they have been used in both IVC and static conditions. These cages have proven to be an asset to the important research being conducted at Rutgers University and have allowed the mice to live happy and healthy lives. The next phase is the modification for use in gerbil and rat cages (Figure 6).
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If you are looking to order non-controlled substances, contact Kelly Mulraney, Veterinary Technologist.
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Finance and Administration Announcements |
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AN UPDATE ON ANIMAL CARE AND FACILITIES COMMITTEE (ACFC) |
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Phase 1 of the ACFC update launched on October 1, 2020 and focused on:
- Consolidation of animal management programs
- Automation of protocol data flow and
- Centralization of the animal procurement process
As of April 30, over 1,300 transactions have been processed using ACFC's centralized animal ordering portal, greatly reducing the procurement effort for the PI and lab members, while providing transparency to the animal delivery and charging processes.
Phase 2 of ACFC is scheduled to debut later this summer and focuses on utilizing RFID enabled cage cards to improve the census taking process. The RFID will enable greater frequency of census collection, resulting in more accurate and timelier per diem charges, while reducing the overall labor expenditure for the husbandry staff.
ACFC was also recently updated to centralize the internal transfer request process, to provide more transparency to the transactions, better enabling Animal Care to fulfill our regulatory obligations. While the animal transfer request process is a new feature, we appreciate the feedback we have already received on how to further improve the process and we look forward to future implementations.
Stay tuned for more information!
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UPDATE ON PIER DIEM CHARGES
Rutgers University Animal Care did a Time and Motion analysis and we anticipate an increase of 3% in per diems for rodents in July 2021. An announcement will be issued shortly.
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SPECIAL PRICING AND PROMOTIONAL INFORMATION FOR RUTGERS RESEARCHERS
Rutgers University periodically receives special pricing or promotions on research models and associated services from approved vendors. These custom price lists and specials that are currently being offered to university researchers are posted on Animal Care website under Animal Orders.
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The Rutgers University Molecular Imaging Center (RUMIC), located on the Livingston Campus, provides imaging resources for the non-invasive evaluation of structural features and biological processes in living systems, disease models, ex vivo organs and preserved specimens. Physical objects (e.g. biomaterials, viscous fluids, ice crystals, assembled electronics, polymers, medical devices, etc.) can also be evaluated. Comprehensive imaging modalities for the basic and preclinical sciences include MRI, PET/CT, microCT, nanoCT, Optical/X-ray Imaging, High-Resolution Ultrasound/Echocardiography Technologies. Image reconstruction, animation, 3D display and quantitative image analysis can be conducted at RUMIC workstations or via remote access to advanced VivoQuantTM software.
The Center is adjacent to CMR animal holding facilities for serial imaging, anesthesia, surgery, animal treatment and veterinary care. In addition to consultation and experimental services, the Center offers periodic training and conducts research to improve existing imaging technologies. RUMIC's mission is to empower Rutgers investigators by promoting independent use of the imaging systems; however, expert assistance is available.
RUMIC is comprised of the Director, Dr. Ed Yurkow, Assistant Director/Manager & MRI Specialist Derek Adler, CT Imaging Specialist Patricia Buckendahl, and Project Research Associates Sean Wang (In Vivo Studies/Animal Surgeon), Shawn Wu (Imaging Specialist) and Peter Kuhn (In Vitro/Ex Vivo Scientist).
To arrange independent or collaborative projects and grant submission support contact Ed Yurkow. For scheduling RUMIC tours and imaging sessions, contact Derek Adler.
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In Vivo Research Services (IVRS) offers
Blood Chemistry Analyzer: Heska Element DC5X
HESKA location: School of Public Health, Piscataway, NJ
- Measures: blood electrolytes, enzymes, glucose, lipid, proteins
- Available Species: multiple animal species including rats and mice
- Report: Excel format compatible. The report will be available the same day and includes the results, low/high flags, and normal range.
Individual tests: BUN, CREA, ALP, ALT, PHOS, GGT, TBIL, AS, GLU, TP, ALB, Ca, Mg, NH3, TRIG, LIP, AMY, CK, URIC, CHOL, LDH, Electrolytes (Na+, K+, Cl-)
50 μl of serum/plasma (heparin only) or 200 μl of whole blood *
Comprehensive Plus Panel: (ALP, ALT, BUN, CREA, GLU, TP, TBIL, ALB, PHOS, Ca, CHOL, GGT, LIP, AMY, Mg, TRIG, AST, Na+, K+, Cl-)= Comp 20
220 μl serum/plasma (heparin only) or 450 μl of whole blood *
Comprehensive Panel: (ALP, ALT, BUN, CREA, GLU, TP, TBIL, ALB, PHOS, Ca, CHOL, GGT)= Comp 12
140 μl serum/plasma (heparin only) or 250 μl of whole blood*
Liver Panel: (ALB, ALP, ALT, GGT, GLU, TBIL)
80 μl serum/plasma (heparin only); 160 μl of whole blood *
Kidney Panel: (ALB, BUN, CREA, Ca, PHOS, TP)
80 μl serum/plasma (heparin only); 160 μl of whole blood *
*For plasma samples whole blood must have heparin added
Special discounted pricing is available for Rutgers faculty
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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!
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