This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. I. Overview and Objectives: The 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 the nonhuman 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 Unit The Veterinary Services Unit of the WNPRC employs six veterinarians and seven 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 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 grant and 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 Unit The Colony Management Unit employs a colony manager, 4 supervisors, 24 full-time and 4 part-time animal research technicians, 2 macaque and 1 marmoset breeding coordinator, and 2 colony records assistants. The 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 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 cage washers and autoclaves In 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 WNPRC o Provision of continuing education opportunities in the form of mini-lectures and involvement in the American Association for Laboratory Animals Science lectures and certification programs Finally, 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 Subunit One 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 employs a coordinator, two full-time assistants and on student. 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 The Compliance and Training Unit employs a Compliance Coordinator, a Training Coordinator, a part-time Training Assistant, and a part-time Laboratory Safety Coordinator. 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. F. Pathology Services Unit The Pathology Services Unit employs two part-time Veterinary Pathologists, a full-time Hematologist/Laboratory Safety Coordinator, and two full-time research assistants. The unit is currently engaged in a nationwide search for another veterinary pathologist. The 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 histopathological 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 Access The 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, 2008, 12 investigators from non-host institutions received a total of 140 samples, representing tissues, organs and genetic material from Macaca mulatta, Macaca fasicularis, and Callithrix jacchus. Please see the Research Services section of this progress report for a table of species, specimen types and numbers. H. Dissemination The 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. We request that projects utilizing any divisional services acknowledge the service in manuscripts and presentations. Animal Services personnel also lecture regularly on nonhuman primate topics to WNPRC staff, and to veterinary residents and students on campus. 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. Another unit member, one of the veterinarians, gave several talks to visiting school groups at the Primate Center in FY2008-2009. I. Progress and Highlights Veterinary Services - In 2008, the Veterinary Services Unit fulfilled their three main objectives (animal care, research support, and training) admirably. The unit was pivotal in the success of site visits performed by the USDA and AAALAC. The unit also provided training for 9 vet tech students, 14 vet students, 4 WNPRC investigators, and 6 veterinary personnel from facilities outside of the WNPRC. The surgical subunit of Veterinary Services provided support for 197 surgical procedures. Members of the Veterinary Services Unit also presented lectures at two national meeting in 2008. Colony Services ?In addition to daily husbandry responsibilities the personnel of the Colony Services Unit provided a pivotal service for the Veterinary Unit and the investigators of the WNPRC. In 2008, the unit cleaned greater than 400,000 cages, administered 19,000 treatments, and collected 5,840 blood samples. Behavioral Management - The Behavioral Management Unit continues 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. In 2008, the unit has expanded its environmental enrichment program for marmosets, standardized the behavioral assessment program, incorporated more behavioral data into the colony records database, provided approximately 98,000 enrichment opportunities for the colony, and has presented data at the annual meet of the American Society of Primatologists. Compliance and Training - With the addition of a part-time Laboratory Safety Coordinator in 2008, the Compliance and Training Unit continued to focus on the improvement of laboratory safety training, general safety training, appropriate responses to emergency situations, and hands on training for research staff with husbandry and animal handling duties. Other accomplishments included providing refresher training in basic biosafety to all laboratory staff and the provision of Laboratory Training Notebooks to all principal investigators. In 2008, 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 unit provided training regarding occupational health information for 390 people working with NHPs. The individuals trained were from a variety of occupational backgrounds including media, custodial staff, maintenance personnel, vendors, police officers, national/international visitors, students and new employees. Additionally, the unit performed 45 protocol pre-reviews for investigators in 2008. Pathology Services - The unit has continued to function smoothly during 2008. Unit members have participated in and rotationally hosted the monthly virtual slide conference for Primate Pathology. One pathologist presented a talk at the annual American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP) meeting. In 2008, the unit was awarded responsibility for the collection, inventory, and dissemination of samples for the NIH Aged Nonhuman Primate Tissue Bank. In 2008 Pathology Unit members provided training in specialized NHP necropsy procedures to campus pathologists, investigators, multiple consultations on NHP cases. Unit members also 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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