by Maeve Luthin, Professional Development Manager
The upcoming 2015 Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) Conference will feature some exciting new session topics that originated from suggestions shared in last year’s conference evaluations. We received repeated requests to expand conference offerings for those who work with animals that are beyond the typical laboratory species. The new Not Your Average IACUC track includes sessions on working with nontraditional laboratory animals, including: A8: Managing Non-Traditional Species When They Come Into the Laboratory; A9: What IACUCs Need to Know About Laboratory Aquatics Oversight; B10: Toolbox for Protocols Using Wild Species; C8: IACUC Deliberations Using Wildlife Scenarios; and D10: IACUC Challenges When Investigators Use Large Animal Models, which will focus on the use of large farm animals in research. Attendee evaluations also provided the genesis for Panel II: Studies of Animals When They Are the Targeted Beneficiaries. This plenary session will address the use of animals in areas other than biomedical research focused on human health, through either the spillover of diseases; unintended alteration of animal populations or communities; or changing our use of land to protect animal populations. PRIM&R received consistent feedback about attendees’ desire to ask general questions regarding the regulations, their everyday work, and topics that arose during the conference sessions. In response to this, the final session of the conference will be a Town Hall Meeting hosted by conference co-chairs F. Claire Hankenson, DVM, MS, DACLAM, and Christian E. Newcomer, VMD, MS, DACLAM. Throughout the conference, attendees will have the opportunity to submit their questions onsite at the PRIM&R Help Desk or through email. The co-chairs will review the submissions, choose those that will be of interest to the larger group, and invite experienced veterans in the field to provide their answers and insight. We can’t wait to see these sessions in action while onsite in Boston at the 2015 IACUC Conference. Thank you to those who took the time to complete their evaluations in 2014—we hope that everyone will continue to share their great ideas with us!