Education Program | Keynote Speaker | Hunter Lecturer | Rowe Lecturer | Charles River Foundation Lecturer | ALL | Registry, CMAR Receptions | Steris 5k | Foundation Events | Lunch & Learn

Education Program

updated 8/25

Friday—Sunday	At-a-Glance	Full Daily Schedule
Monday	At-a-Glance	Full Daily Schedule
Tuesday	At-a-Glance	Full Daily Schedule
Wednesday	At-a-Glance	Full Daily Schedule
Thursday	At-a-Glance	Full Daily Schedule
	Posters	Abstracts

NEW! Itinerary Planner
Through the online submission site for abstracts and topics (Abstract Central), meeting attendees can now plan their itineraries online at http://aalas.abstractcentral.com/planner.jsp.

To start, just click on the Open/Create Itinerary link on the left, or click Browse to view the schedule. If you have created an itinerary you can browse sessions by day or type and then began planning your day. The At-a-Glance links above also open the itinerary planner.

Keynote Speaker

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Oliver Smithies will deliver the keynote address at the Opening General Session. On October 8, 2007, Smithies was announced as co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Mario Capecchi of the University of Utah and Martin Evans of Cardiff University for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells.

Smithies is also noted for his 1950 invention of gel electrophoresis and the simultaneous discovery, with Mario Capecchi, of the technique of homologous recombination of transgenic DNA with genomic DNA, a much more reliable method of altering animal genomes than previously used, and the technique behind gene targeting and knockout mice.

From 1953 to 1960, Smithies worked in the Connaught Medical Research Laboratory at the University of Toronto, Canada, due to visa problems, before he could return to his originally planned post as Assistant, Associate and Leon J. Cole and Hilldale Professor of Genetics and Medical Genetics at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, where he worked from 1960 to 1988. Since 1988, Smithies has been designated an Excellence Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also works at the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy. For more information, please visit www.pathology.unc.edu/common/smithies.htm.

Hunter Lecturer

Dr. Melissa Shyan-Norwalt will present this year’s Hunter Lecture, “The Human-Animal Bond: Are We All Secret Dr. Dolittles?” She received her MS in Experimental Psychology from the Illinois Institute of Technology and her PhD in Comparative Cognition from the University of Hawaii. She worked on dolphin communication and conducted cognition research at the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Lab in Hawaii. Her postdoctoral fellowship was at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston, where she studied memory and problem-solving skills in rhesus monkeys. She taught for two years at Southwest Texas State University before moving to Butler University in Indianapolis, where she taught for 13 years. She currently studies the human-animal bond; cat and dog behavior; monkey, dolphin, and elephant cognition and behavior; environmental and social enrichment; and animal welfare and well-being in non-home environments.

In addition to her numerous journal articles, Dr. Shyan-Norwalt writes behavior problem resolution articles for a cat shelter newsletter. She has appeared in a BBC/PBS Discover documentary and the syndicated TV show “At The Zoo.” She is an invited speaker at research centers and veterinary colleges throughout the world. She has been certified by the Animal Behavior Society as an applied animal behaviorist and is an affiliate member of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior. She owns Companion Animal Problem Solvers, Inc., where she works with owner-clients to resolve pet and companion animal behavior problems. She has also served as a consultant for modifying and designing a no-kill cat shelter.

Rowe Lecturer

Many people suffer from a variety of infectious and non-infectious disorders that are associated with fatigue, non-restorative sleep, and excessive daytime sleepiness. Excessive sleepiness and fatigue reduce the individual’s quality of life and cause significant economic loss in terms of increased error rates, reduced productivity, and diminished employment capability. The growing importance of fatigue in our society has stimulated a need to expand our understanding of this debilitating symptom. A considerable body of research documents strong interactions among immune or inflammatory challenge and fatigue, excessive sleepiness, and poor sleep. Dr. Linda Toth will present this year’s Rowe Lecture, “Sleep and Fatigue during Infectious and Inflammatory Disease: The Crossroads of Immunology and Behavior,” which will illustrate how mice can be used to identify genes and mechanisms that contribute to fatigue and disturbed sleep.

Dr. Toth is the associate dean for Research and Faculty Affairs, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, and editor in chief of Comparative Medicine and JAALAS. She recently completed an analysis of genetic contributions to altered sleep patterns in influenza-infected mice, which revealed that quantitative trait locus, Srilp1, that accounts for large and consistent differences in influenza-related alterations in sleep in different strains of inbred mice. Future work will build on that finding by using genetic mapping and a candidate gene strategy to identify the genetic and pathologic mechanisms that mediate sleep responses to influenza infection and other types of microbial challenges.

Charles River Foundation Lecturer

Prof. Georgia Mason is a behavioral biologist interested in the chronic effects of standard housing on brain, behavior, and welfare; the objective assessment of welfare; and the factors that allow some individuals or species to cope with captivity more easily than others. She has a PhD in animal behavior from Cambridge University, where she also held a post-doctoral research fellowship. Her presentation, entitled “Animal Behavior: A Hard Sell of a Not-So-Soft Research Discipline,” will provide an overview of the aims and methods of behavioral ecology and comparative cognition as well as tips on how to conduct behavioral research well. She will also present the most inspiring examples of superb research on the evolution of behavior in wild animals, on nonhuman cognitive abilities and constraints, and on animal welfare in relation to laboratory animals.

Prof. Mason taught comparative anatomy and animal behavior in Oxford University’s Zoology Department. She is currently a research chair in the Animal Sciences department at the University of Guelph and a visiting professor in welfare physiology at the Royal Veterinary College in London. Her laboratory animal projects have included investigating the effects of early enrichment on later welfare in mice, different cage-cleaning regimes on rat and mouse welfare, and weaning age on mouse anxiety. In 2005 she received the Charles River Laboratories Excellence in Refinement Award sponsored by Charles River Laboratories and the John Hopkins University’s Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing.

ALL

Have you had a chance to view the AALAS Learning Library? If not, stop by Learning Resources and log in for free; facilitators and AALAS staff will be on hand to answer questions. In addition, there will be two special sessions held in Learning Resources on Monday from 4:00–5:00 p.m. to help you get the most from the AALAS Learning Library. These sessions are open to anyone attending the meeting.

Coordinating a Group on the ALL: Tips & Tricks to Make Your Life Easier
Monday, 4:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
Are you managing a group on the AALAS Learning Library? Whether large or small, there are tips and tricks to make managing a group easier. Come by the Learning Resources Center and see how using these tips can save time, help you manage more people, and enhance the learning experience for your group members.

Getting the Most from the AALAS Learning Library: Studying for Technician Certification
Monday, 4:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
Come to the Learning Resources Center for a workshop-style presentation. You will be able to log onto the computer, view courses in the ALL, and learn how to use those courses to study for the Technician Certification Exam.

Registry, CMAR Receptions

Registered certified technicians, CMARs, and anyone interested in learning more about these programs are invited to the Registry and CMAR receptions at the National Meeting. Enjoy tasty snacks while you network with colleagues and meet the members of the committees responsible for these programs. The receptions will be held Wednesday, November 12, from 5–6 p.m. Rooms will be announced in the Final Program.

Steris 5k Walk/Run

The Steris 5k Walk/Run will be held Tuesday November 11, 2008. Check-in will be in the main lobby of the Westin Indianapolis at 6:00 a.m.; the race begins at 6:30 a.m.

Steris 5k Form

Foundation Fundraising Events

Donate an Auction Item
The AALAS Foundation is holding its Silent and Live Auctions again this year at the AALAS National Meeting in Indianapolis. Thank you for your generous donations in past years! The annual auctions help raise funds to support educational outreach on the essential role of responsible laboratory animal care and use. Please participate again this year by donating an item for the auction.

To donate an auction item, please send a brief description of the item, including its approximate value and donor info, to April Turner (fax 901-753-0046). If you have questions, call April at 901-754-8620. Donations must be received by October 10 to be shipped to Indianapolis.

Send items to: AALAS Foundation, c/o Auction, 9190 Crestwyn Hills Dr., Memphis, TN 38125-8538. You may also bring your item to the Foundation booth in the Indiana Convention Center.

Bid on Auction Items
Come view and bid on our Silent Auction items at the Foundation Booth.

SILENT AUCTION HOURS
Sunday: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Monday: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Wednesday: 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Please also join us Wednesday evening from 6:30–8:30 p.m. for the Foundation Appreciation Reception and live auction. Several specially selected auction items will be available for viewing at the booth during the week and will be moved to the reception for the live auction bidding.

LIVE AUCTION HOURS
Wednesday 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Dr. Tom Nolan, Vice-President Instech Solomon, will serve as the auctioneer.

Allentown Charitable Open House
Allentown is pleased to announce the second annual Charitable Open House benefiting the AALAS Foundation.

Last year was a stunning success, as we donated almost $7,000 for the AALAS Foundation! Please be our guest and help make this year’s event even better.

DATE: Sunday, November 9th
PLACE: 59th AALAS National Meeting, Indianapolis, IN
ROOM: TBA
TIME: 12:00–2:00 p.m.

Like last year, Allentown will make a donation to the Foundation for every member who attends the luncheon. Attendance to the event is still free, but the MORE who come the MORE the Foundation will receive!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Lunch & Learn Carousel

The Technician Lunch & Learn is a special event providing an opportunity for technicians to enjoy a complimentary lunch and also learn about a wide variety of educational topics relating to lab animal science. The AALAS Committee on Technician Awareness & Development (CTAD) brings this event just for technicians to the AALAS National Meeting each year. This year’s event is planned for Monday, November 10, from 12:30-2:30 p.m. The 2008 Lunch & Learn is being sponsored by Purina Mills, Inc. Thanks to their wonderful generosity and their dedication to continuing education for technicians, attendees will receive a complimentary lunch and numerous door prizes.

Following a complimentary lunch, everyone will break out into small group educational sessions. Several tables will be set up in a large room with a different topic being presented three times at each table. There will be three rounds of presentations each lasting 20 minutes. Technicians attending the event will select three topics of their choice and attend one after the other at different tables. A timekeeper will start the presentations, signal presenters to stop at the appropriate times, and announce the changing of rounds. If a session you want to attend is crowded for the early round, you will select another one of your choices and save that one for a later round. Each presenter will be at their table at the conclusion of the third round for a fourth, shorter, informal round. This will be your opportunity to revisit if you have questions or visit with or pick up handouts from a presentation you were unable to attend. In summary, you will attend three sessions in a little over one hour. The carousel format will provide a more intimate learning environment where you will be able to ask questions and talk to others there about the topic. This year's speakers are Larry Barbour, Robert Dauchy, Kevin Phelps Jr, and Ted Plemons.

Larry Barbour
Larry L Barbour, manager of Laboratory Animal Services for the Newark Campus at Rutgers University, will share with you his experiences and insight in operating an Animal Biosafety Level 2 & 3 facility in Newark, New Jersey. Managers and directors face any number of challenges in operating an ABSL facility. Varied structures of organizations of academics, government, and corporate combine in a research environment with animals. There are animal husbandry rooms, procedure rooms, and science laboratories under one controlled roof. Discussion will center on the animal care staffing, training, and operation of such a program in the largest city in New Jersey.

Larry earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Pennsylvania State University and is certified by AALAS at the LATG level. He has more than 33 years of experience in laboratory animal science, having worked as a supervisor in contract laboratories and as a manager in federal government facilities and private pharmaceutical facilities. Larry served in the Army and Army Reserves with research centers and veterinary medical detachments. In May 1999 he completed the AALAS Institute of Laboratory Animal Management (ILAM) two-year program. He is a member of AALAS, NJ-AALAS, and LAMA. He has previously served on the AALAS Committees of Laboratory Animal Technicians (COLAT) and the Committee for Technician Affairs (CTA), representing District 2. Barbour is a past president of NJ-AALAS. He serves on science advisory boards at high schools in two counties in NJ. He is teaching the laboratory sessions for the Northern New Jersey Consortium for Veterinary Technician Education program at the County College of Morris, with students from Sussex and Bergen County Colleges. He taught the Introduction to Veterinary Technology through interactive TV to the three County Colleges last semester. He is also a trainer for the NJ (SART) State Animal Response Teams.

Robert Dauchy
Biomedical researchers and animal care personnel alike have long been concerned with laboratory animal facility-controlled lighting. Work in the early 1990s demonstrated that dim light during animal facility dark-phase stimulated the growth of hepatomas in tumor-bearing rodents. Using the unique “tissue-isolated” tumor implantation/perfusion technique developed in Dauchy’s lab, he and his colleagues were able to advance to the study of human cancer metabolism and growth. An AALAS GLAS grant furnished Dauchy an opportunity to achieve these goals in a multidisciplinary manner, which included biomedical researchers and animal care personnel. The process involved with formulating a GLAS research project submission, as well as the steps associated for the AALAS technician, will be described in this talk. The goal is to encourage fellow technicians, in collaboration with the broader scientific community, to apply to the GLAS program, in order to enhance scientific knowledge in laboratory animal welfare through research.

Robert began his career at Bassett Research Institute in 1976, following graduation from SUNY New Paltz, New York. He worked in the Laboratory for Cancer Research and managed the Research Institute Animal Resources Facility rodent colony. After joining AALAS in 1980, he became the first LATG. He has been active in Upstate AALAS Branch since the 1980s, where he presented at annual meetings for many years, including the more recent annual QUAD Symposia. In 1986 he was awarded the AALAS Technician Publication of the Year Award, and in 2001 he received the Technician of the Year award. He has more than 140 publications and review articles and is a reviewer for eight international journals, including JAALAS and Comparative Medicine. In July 2008, he received CMAR certification. Robert is a member of eight international societies, where he regularly presents results of his cancer research work, including findings in the area of environmental light at night, animal facility dark-phase light contamination, and mammalian circadian disruption leading to human cancer progression.

Kevin Phelps Jr
Kevin Phelps Jr will provide tips on how to become more comfortable talking about careers in laboratory animal science. His message is that once we become comfortable talking about what we do, we can then move on to understanding the importance of laboratory animal research. After researching our opposition, we can finally begin educating the general public on the truth of animal research.

Kevin was born and raised in Syracuse, NY, and graduated from Oswego State University of New York with a BS in zoology in May 2001. In August 2001 he began working for SUNY Upstate Medical University in Lab Animal Resources as a senior lab animal technician, where he was inspired to speak out to the public. Nearly immediately after starting his career, he became a member of the Upstate AALAS Branch and attended his first meeting in the fall of 2001, where he became TBR. Kevin was certified at the ALAT level in the summer of 2002. His goal was to begin teaching the public about the positive aspects of animal research. He began giving presentations to central New York schools and after-school programs. Soon after he became the branch representative for States United for Biomedical Research (SUBR), where he chairs a public outreach committee.

Ted Plemons
Ted Plemons, MBA, CMAR, RLATG will provide a brief overview of how a TBR can effectively mentor and educate technicians within their AALAS branch. He will focus on the role and responsibilities of the TBR, and the creation of a culture that facilitates an environment that encourages the technicians both to excel technically and become in involved within their AALAS branch.

Ted served for 20 years in the U.S. Army as a (91T) Animal Care Specialist. During his military career, his tours of duties as an animal facility manager included the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Department of Laboratory Animal Medicine, Washington DC; Tripler Army Medical Center, Department of Clinical Investigation, Animal Research Section, Honolulu Hawaii; and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Center for Laboratory Animal Medicine, Bethesda, MD. He earned a BA from Chaminade University in Honolulu and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. He subsequently earned certification by AALAS as a CMAR and an LATG, and is also an ILAM graduate. He facilitated large-scale training sessions for AALAS certification programs with the National Capital Area Branch and has contributed his time with his local AALAS branch serving as TBR for District 3. Ted is a past recipient of the AALAS Technician Branch Representative of the Year Award. As the National Eye (NEI) institutes’ Animal Program Coordinator, Plemons serves as the executive secretary and ex officio member of the NEI Animal Care and Use Committee. His responsibilities include facilitating animal protocol development, compliance, and oversight of the NEI Animal Program.

Again this year is a 10-minute “no-show” policy. We will hold your seat and your lunch for 10 minutes past the start time of the program. After that, your reservation (and lunch) will be passed on to another technician on a waiting list. If you show up later than 10 minutes past the start time of the event, you will be allowed to attend the sessions, but will not be provided a lunch.

There is no charge to the technicians for attending this session; however, since lunch is provided and seating is limited, pre-registration is required. Download the registration form