8^th Annual 3Rs Symposium: Pandemic-Driven Advances
June 3-4, 2021 | Virtual

The 8^th joint symposium organized by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, USDA’s Animal Welfare Information Center, NIH’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, and Johns Hopkins Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology is scheduled for June 3^rd and 4^th, 2021.  This year’s virtual symposium is titled “Pandemic Driven Advances.” Its goal is to bring together experts and practitioners to focus on the challenges faced during the pandemic and the successes in effectively using animal models to maximize both biomedical discovery and the 3Rs goal.

Registration coming soon!

IACUC Administrators Association (IAA) webinar: Biomedical & Wildlife Research, what differences should IACUCs recognize?
March 11, 2021, at 3:00 – 4:30 PM EST

During this webinar, Bill Greer will introduce unique challenges associated with wildlife research and attendees will help to identify other unique wildlife-associated challenges. Panelists and attendees will identify techniques used by organizations that frequently review and oversee wildlife studies and discuss some tried and tested ideas for the review, approval, and oversight of wildlife research. During the webinar, attendees will discuss the topic by posing questions to the speakers and other attendees, offering ideas, and ultimately identifying effective and practical processes for managing and overseeing wildlife research.    

Visit IAA to find out more and register. This event is free for IAA members and $30.00 for non-members.   

Next ILAR Virtual Workshop – Rapid Response by Laboratory Animal Research Institutions During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned
March 9-10, 2021 | Virtual

The number of emerging infectious diseases affecting humans has risen significantly in the last 40 years. When these diseases lead to epidemics or pandemics, infectious disease and laboratory animal research communities have faced steep learning curves in coordinating institutional animal research responses. During the current COVID-19 event, laboratory animal research operations nationwide were disrupted, creating new and unique response challenges, including prioritizing science to end the ongoing pandemic while delaying other research.

Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic will provide guidance for developing a rapid and sustainable response for the research community. This will include outlining institutional animal research priorities, addressing important resources, and coordinating activities to advance medical progress for both current and future public health safety.

Click here to register for this free event and learn more!

News flashes and schedules of workshops and conferences older than 1 year will now be archived on OLAW’s website.
To increase site maintenance efficiency, OLAW has archived news flashes and schedules of workshops and conferences older than one year using Archive-It. The archive is publicly available and there are no restrictions on its use.

To access OLAW’s archived material, navigate to the “Older versions of this Page” link located at the bottom OLAW’s home page.
 

Once the new page loads, users can then navigate previous versions of each web page using the calendar navigation bar at the top of the page.
 

Learn more at the Archive-It Initiative. 

IACUC Administrators Association (IAA) webinar: Virtual Quality Assurance Reviews (PAMS)
February 25, 2021 at 3:00 – 4:30 PM EST

During this webinar, Erin Czarniak will present some tried and tested processes for performing virtual quality assurance assessments. She will describe some of the processes used to ensure the high quality of ongoing review of IACUC-approved animal activities. During the webinar, attendees are welcome to discuss these ideas and methods, posing questions to the speaker and other attendees, offering other effective ideas, and ultimately identifying compliant processes for performing the reviews. OLAW and USDA representatives will also be available for questions.

Visit IAA to find out more and register. This event is free for IAA members and $30.00 for non-members.

The OLAW quarterly webinar on 21^st Century Cures Act: Update on Implementation will be prerecorded – submit your questions by February 19, 2021

Due to software licensing restrictions for the number of registrants allowed to attend live webinar events, OLAW’s quarterly webinar titled “21st Century Cures Act: Update on Implementation” featuring Drs. Patricia Brown (NIH), Betty Goldentyer (USDA), and Brianna Skinner (FDA) will be prerecorded and released on March 11, 2021. Therefore, no registration is required.   

In this webinar, the speakers will provide updates on the agencies’ progress in implementing the recommended measures of the 21st Century Cures Act. The 21st Century Cures Act, Section 2034(d), directed NIH, USDA, and FDA to “complete a review of applicable regulations and policies for the care and use of laboratory animals and to make revisions, as appropriate, to reduce administrative burden on investigators while maintaining the integrity and credibility of research findings and the protection of research animals.” In response to this directive, a working group from NIH, USDA, and FDA identified regulations and policies that contribute to the administrative burden. It released a report in 2019 detailing the planned actions of the three agencies.  

If you have any questions for Drs. Brown, Goldentyer, and Skinner, please submit them to olawdpe@mail.nih.gov before February 19, 2021.

PRIM&R 2021 IACUC Conference 
April 14-16, 2021 | Virtual 

The conference will include keynote, plenary, and breakout sessions, networking events, and in-depth workshops designed to help build and strengthen effective animal care and use programs. It will also provide ample opportunity to exchange ideas, discuss best practices, and work through challenges that can arise when using animal models in research. 

Conference content will be streamed live from 10:00 AM to 2:30 PM ET each day (all content will also be available on demand for later viewing). In the afternoon, attendees can choose to participate in additional networking activities with their peers, attend in-depth workshops, visit the virtual exhibit hall and poster gallery, and more.
 

Learn more at the PRIM&R 2021 IACUC Conference.