This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing theresources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject andinvestigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source,and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed isfor the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator.I. Overview and ObjectivesThe Animal Services Division is composed of 5 units (Veterinary Services, Colony Management, Pathology Services, Compliance and Training, and Behavioral Management) that are dedicated to maintaining the health of non-human primate (NHP) colonies of the WNPRC; supporting the scientific mission of the Center, ensuring regulatory compliance, and training personnel to work safely with NHPs and their tissues.Each of the five units performs their own individual duties but also act in synergy to fulfill the specific aims of the division. Furthermore, the individual units interact with the other divisions to fulfill the goals of the entire Center. A. Veterinary Services UnitThe Veterinary Services Unit of the WNPRC is composed of five veterinarians and six veterinary technicians The principal objective of the unit is to provide consistent and excellent care to the nhp colonies housed at the WNPRC. To achieve this objective, the unit has created and implemented a collection of policies that guide the provision of veterinary care at the WNPRC. These policies, which encompass pertinent topics such as nhp quarantine, preventative medicine, and clinical/surgical care, are based on the most contemporary techniques available to nhp veterinarians. The second major objective of the unit is to provide support for the investigators performing research at the WNPRC. The primary way in which the unit supports the investigators is by ensuring a consistent supply of healthy nhps is available for utilization in experimental studies. The veterinary staff also assists investigators by meeting with them prior to an experiment to discuss and plan for each proposed study, by helping compose IACUC protocols, by performing procedures beyond the skill level of the investigators, and by providing clinical care for the nhps assigned to research projects.The final objective of the unit is to provide training for personnel working with nhps at the WNPRC and at other institutions. Through didactic and applied instruction, the unit provides training to veterinary and veterinary technical students, visiting veterinarians and veterinary technicians, WNPRC and visiting investigators, and scientific support staff.The Veterinary Services Unit works closely with the other units of the Animal Services Division as well other divisions of the WNPRC. This collaboration ensures the most complete and effective care of our animals and benefits the Veterinary Services unit as well the other individual units and divisions of the WNPRC.B. Colony Management UnitThe Colony Management Unit is one of the most crucial components of the WNPRC infrastructure as it supports the entire animal husbandry program of the Center. The Colony Management Unit consists of a colony manager, 2 supervisors, 18 full-time and 4 part-time animal research technicians, a macaque and marmoset breeding coordinator, and 2 colony records assistants. The daily tasks performed by the Colony Management Unit include: + Provision of food to the nonhuman primate colonies+ Sanitization of the nonhuman primates caging, rooms, equipment, and the remainder of the animal barrier facilities+ Maintenance of all records related to HVAC and sanitization processes + Monitoring and minor maintenance of automatic cagewashers and autoclavesIn addition to their husbandry duties, the personnel of the Colony Management Unit perform pivotal tasks for the Veterinary Services, Behavioral Management, Compliances & Training, Pathology Services, Purchasing, and the Centralized Protocol Implementation Units of the Center. These tasks include, but are not limited to the following:+ Documentation and communication of daily health reports on the nonhuman primate colonies+ Maintenance of colony records+ Collection of behavioral and scientific data+ Administration of medical and experimental treatments+ Provision of environmental enrichment objects and documentation of this provision+ Collection of blood and other tissue samples for experimental and clinical purposes+ Completion of inventory tasks for the Purchasing Unit for all sanitization supplies, chemicals, and personal protective equipment+ In collaboration with the Training Coordinator:o Provision of training to all personnel and any outside colleagues who may come in contact with nonhuman primates at the WNPRCo Provision of continuing education opportunities in the form of mini-lectures and involvement in the American Association for Laboratory Animals Science lectures and certification programsFinally, in cooperation with the Senior Management Team, the Colony Manager maintains the nhp breeding colonies of the Center and ensures that a sufficient supply of healthy, genetically characterized diverse animals are available to core, collaborative, and outside investigators.C. Colony Records SubunitOne full-time and one part-time assistant staff this subunit of Colony Management. The subunit's staff is responsible for the daily entry of all data related to the nonhuman primate colony including clinical procedures, animal location transfers, treatments, research procedures, surgical procedures, sample collections, and health observations. Colony Records staff also assure the quality control of data entries, train new staff on how to use the Animal Records Database, and perform database queries. The subunit is appropriately situated in the Colony Management unit to foster frequent communication among personnel performing the work being documented. The unit works closely with the Information Services Division of the WNPRC to continuously improve the Internet-based version of the Colony Records Database and to facilitate and simplify the data entry and retrieval process.D. Behavioral Management Unit The Behavioral Management Unit and its personnel have been very active in the last year. The Unit has augmented its environmental enrichment program, implemented a behavioral assessment program, incorporated behavioral data into the colony records database, and is assembling data for presentation at scientific meetings and for publication in appropriate peer review journals. The Behavioral Management staff utilizes a combination of environmental enrichment, behavior modification, and positive reinforcement, in attempt to promote a diverse array of species typical behaviors in the captive nhps, increase each animal's control and utilization of their environment, and decrease the occurrence of stereotypical and self-injurious behavior. The Environmental Enrichment Plan remains unchanged from last year. This plan consists of the following components: + Social companionship+ Foraging+ Food enrichment+ Human to non-human interaction+ Structural enrichment+ Manipulanda + Additional sensory stimulation Each component of the enrichment plan has been designed to work in unison with the other components to create a comfortable and psychologically challenging environment for the nhps.E. Compliance and Training Unit Compliance and Training is a multi-dimensional unit with a variety of responsibilities. The primary objectives of the unit are to train all personnel at the WNPRC who may come in contact with nhps or their tissue; to ensure that the WNPRC facilities and personnel remain compliant with all animal welfare regulations; to assist investigators in the development of IACUC protocols; and to guide the Occupational Health and Safety Program of the Center. Since its inception in 2005, the unit has worked in collaboration with the various divisions and investigators of the WNPRC to standardize training and promote a center-wide atmosphere of regulatory compliance and safety.Over the last year, the Compliance and Training Unit has expanded the training program to include the following: laboratory safety training, general safety training, appropriate responses to emergency situations, and hands on training for research staff with husbandry and animal handling duties. The unit has also expanded the collaboration with departments on the UW-Madison campus and other non-UW facilities, both at the local and international level. The Unit has streamlined the process to gain facility access and barrier access, and has been working with all units and laboratories to standardize the documentation of all training. Nearly all standard operating procedures were carefully re-evaluated and revised to be more specific with their content, and an effective electronic verification form was developed to ensure compliance with review of revised SOPs. The biggest challenge the Compliance and Training Unit faces is the inability to track all required training, plus SOP review in a single compliance and training database. The unit will continue to work with the IT staff to develop a compliance and training database that will track all training and SOP review requirements as well as other requirements such as semiannual TB testing.F. Pathology Services UnitThe Pathology Services unit has been an integral part of the WNPRC since it's inception. Pathology services has two main functions 1) to support nonhuman primate colony health and the clinical veterinary staff by providing rapid diagnoses of disease and 2) to support all research projects at the WNPRC that involve terminal procedures, surgical biopsies and/or clinical pathology. Complete gross necropsies are performed on all animals, whether they are euthanized for clinical reasons, die spontaneously, or are euthanized for experimental purposes. Tissues from these animals receive complete histopathologic examinations, except when the examination of a specific tissue is incompatible with experimental protocols. The tissue distribution program provides primate tissue to investigators affiliated with WNPRC, the University of Wisconsin, other academic institutions, and private industry. A comprehensive tissue library of both rhesus macaque and common marmoset tissues is maintained for both retrospective and prospective studies.G. Allocation of Resource AccessThe Animal Services Division works closely with the Centralized Protocol Implementation Unit and the WNPRC Executive Committee to review all requests for access to the Center's nonhuman primate colonies. Equitable decisions are made by these three entities to ensure that all PIs have access to the nonhuman primates they require for their IACUC-approved experimental protocols.Pathology Services notifies investigators of the resource via the Primate Center website, scientific meetings, and through the nonhuman primate biological materials distribution program. To date, no requests have been denied. All core WNPRC labs use Pathology Services at some point in their projects, and numerous campus affiliates avail of this service. In addition, since May 1, 2007, 20 investigators from non-host institutions received a total of 129 samples, representing tissues, organs and genetic material from Macaca mulatta and Callithrix jacchus. Please see the Research Services section of this progress report for a table of species, specimen types and numbers.H. DisseminationThe Associate Director of Animal Services strives to ensure that important information discovered or developed by the division is disseminated to the greater scientific community through publication in peer-reviewed journals and at national meetings. Over the last year, members of the division have presented four presentations at two national meetings. We request that projects utilizing Pathology Services acknowledge the service in manuscripts and presentations. The unit's pathologists also lecture regularly on primate pathology to WNPRC staff, veterinary pathology residents on campus, and to veterinary students. One unit member presented a short outreach program to a local Girl Scout troop that involved the creation of enrichment toys for animals and a follow-up meeting so that the children could see the results of their work.I. ProgressIn 2007, the Pathology Services Unit was added to the Animal Services Division. This addition has improved the communication and production of both the clinical veterinarians and the veterinary pathologists of the division. The WNPRC has two part time pathologists and is conducting a search for a third pathologist. The unit has continued to function smoothly during 2007. Unit members have participated in the submission of 2 RO1 grants for the further development of the Primate Pathology Image Database and for the development of Primate Pathology Ontology. Members have provided training to scientists and staff at a primate research facility in China and will continue to work with Chinese collaborators in 2008.The Behavioral Management unit is striving to develop their overall program from simply providing environmental enrichment and pairing animals to generating true academic output that is relevant to the field of nonhuman primate behavior.J. HighlightsThe Animal Services Division responded energetically to the NCRR mandate that the eight NPRCs act as a true consortium. The Attending Veterinarian is an active member of the Primate Medicine Training Consortium and is also involved in the Colony Management Production Working Group with the Colony Manager of the WNPRC and personnel from the other seven NPRCs. The Behavioral Management Coordinator is one of the founding members of the Behavioral Management Consortium that consists of coordinators from all eight NPRCs. Finally, the Head Pathologist has played a pivotal role in the creation and success of the Primate Pathology Images Database that consists of pathologists from all eight NPRCs.The Compliance & Training Unit performed 56 protocol reviews for investigators performing nonhuman primate research at the WNPRC.The members of the Colony Management Unit obtained almost 5000 blood samples for investigators performing nonhuman primate research at the WNPRC.K. Challenges and ConcernsThe WNPRC will occupy a new 300 animal vivarium in late 2008 and are currently in the process of recruiting new veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and animal research technicians to help run this facility.L. TrainingOver the last year, the Veterinary Services Unit provided training in the form of multi-week externships or day-long courses to 22 veterinary students and 31 veterinary technicians. In addition, the Compliance & Training Unit provided 70 individuals with an introduction to nonhuman handling and provided 174 individuals with specialized (husbandry, behavior, and research) nonhuman primate training. In 2007, Pathology Unit members participated in clinical pathology training to provide additional services for colony management, provided training in specialized NHP necropsy procedures to campus pathologists and multiple consultations on NHP cases and provided preparatory training for the American College of Veterinary Pathologists certifying examination to four pathology residents on campus.Publications note: Animal Services support is involved in practically every journal article that depends in part or in full on WNPRC resources.Note: AIDS related
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