Election Ballot Coming

By Dr. Ann Turner, Executive Director

One sign of a vigorous association is excitement and widespread interest from the membership in seeking elected office. AALAS is indeed a healthy association. This year, there are more candidates seeking trustee and alternate trustee positions than in the past several years. Several candidates, all stellar individuals filed petitions for Vice President Elect, and the Nominations Committee had the arduous task of choosing two of these candidates to be placed on the ballot.

The ballots were mailed June 1. Now it is your turn to contribute to the health of our organization by participating in this election. When you receive your ballot, please review it, give careful consideration to the candidates' experience and position statements, choose the candidates you believe can best lead the association in the coming years, and VOTE! Ballots must be cast (postmarked) on or before July 5.

AALAS Foundation Board Seeks Directors

The AALAS Foundation Board will have four director-at-large positions open to be seated during the AALAS National Meeting in Charlotte, NC this fall 2007. These positions are open to all qualified candidates who wish to support the Foundation and participate in its efforts to support educational outreach on the essential role of responsible laboratory animal care and use in science to advance human and animal health. Interested candidates may contact John McCutchen for more information or send a resume and/or CV and a brief statement of their goals as an AALAS Foundation director-at-large by close of business June 4.

Reserve Your Room for the AALAS National Meeting

The AALAS Housing Bureau is now open and accepting reservations for the AALAS National Meeting. You may make reservations by phone, fax, or by using the website. If you are planning on extending your stay in Charlotte outside of the dates of the AALAS National Meeting, you must make your reservations by fax or phone.

ILAM 2007

The 4-day training for AALAS' Institute for Laboratory Animal Management (ILAM) concluded with the awards ceremony on May 10. AALAS President Bruce Kennedy attended and presented an overview of AALAS' accomplishments. Congratulations to all participants and the ILAM Committee: Ann Murray, chair; Jussi Helppi, vice chair; Mike Gliganic; Dave Johnson; Adam Seddiqui; Dr. Richard Simmonds; Linda Brovarney; Board of Trustees Liaison Donna Goldsteen; and AALAS Staff Liaisons Carolyn Simonton and Betty Cartwright.

Cost of Caring Brochure: An Important Resource

The Cost of Caring brochure is a helpful resource to guide staff on handling their grief over the morbidity and mortality of laboratory animals in a research setting. This resource discusses the emotional experiences of personnel who work and bond with laboratory animals, and it offers coping strategies for animal research personnel and facility management.

This brochure is free for download as a PDF from the AALAS web site. New packaging and discounts of the printed brochure also make this resource very affordable for distribution among staff. Brochures may be purchased in packs of 10 for $10, and discounts are applied to volume purchases: 10% for 3-4 packs, 20% for 5-9 packs, and 40% for 10 or more packs. Visit the AALAS Bookstore today to obtain copies for your staff.

National Meeting Update

The 58th annual AALAS National Meeting is only a few short months away! Registration is now open for the meeting. General attendees may take advantage of online registration.

Exhibitors must register through their companies. The AALAS Housing Bureau will be open by the end of the month. Another email will be sent out with instructions for booking housing and a link to the site. Review of abstract and topic submissions for the program continues.

The preliminary program will be online by mid June, with a hard copy soon to follow. Workshop registration forms will be available online by the end of June. Additional emails will be sent to alert you of these developments.

AALAS National Election: Vote for Your Leaders!

Official ballots for the 2007 AALAS national election will soon be mailed to all national AALAS members whose membership status is current. Watch your mailbox for your copy of the ballot and be sure to cast your vote prior to the July 5, 2007 deadline for ballot returns.

Click here for a complete listing of vice president-elect, trustee, and alternate trustee candidates. (You must be logged on to view the web page.) The website and the official ballot include the names of all eligible candidates for each position, their position statements, photos, and background/credential information.

Please note that you must vote in the district where your ballot is mailed. Incorrectly cast ballots are not counted. Instructions for casting your vote are included on the official ballot.

AALAS Awards Deadline Extended

The AALAS awards submission deadline has been extended from May 1 to June 1 in order to attract more entries.

The seven awards are the Griffin, Garvey, Brewer, Collins, Technician of the Year, Bhatt Young Investigator, and Cohen Animal Stewardship award. General nominations are not necessary for the AALAS Technician Publication Award or the Poster Session Awards.

All awards except the Poster Session Awards will be presented during the AALAS Opening General Session. The Poster Session Awards will be presented during the AALAS General Membership Meeting.

LAWTE Accepting Abstracts

The Laboratory Animal Welfare Training Exchange is now accepting abstracts for posters for the Bi-annual LAWTE meeting in Boston this August 8-10, 2007.

The presentation of a poster provides an alternative opportunity for presenting training ideas at the Laboratory Animal Welfare Training Exchange meeting.

The poster categories are

1. Training the Trainer - topics which provide ideas, suggestions, procedures, including experience, regarding making a "better" or "more effective" trainer.
2. Training Techniques - actual novel techniques used in specific training (in any area of laboratory animal science) including the use of alternatives (previous historical / published examples include the use of the Koken rat).
3. Training Management - topics surrounding novel ideas for documenting and record keeping various aspects of the training program, training, database collection, databases, etc.

Authors will be expected to be present to discuss their posters during the LRC event on August 9th, times to be listed in the LAWTE Meeting official program. Detailed poster submission and construction instructions will be available on the LAWTE website. Winning poster contestants will receive a monetary award.

Please contact the Poster Committee Chair Kim Overhulse if you need assistance with the poster submissions.

Resources for Animal Use in University Courses

By Nicole Duffee, DVM, PhD
Director, AALAS Education & Scientific Affairs

The following resources, although aimed at pre-college education levels, may be useful for a college biology 101 course.

ILAR has guideline principles in the use of animals in education, and AALAS recognized these ILAR principles in a postion statement with the addition of recommendations and links to other resources.

Use of Animals in Precollege Education
PDF version -
http://www.aalas.org/pdf/precollege_education.pdf
HTML version -
http://www.aalas.org/association/position_statements.asp#Precollege

There are also a series of Fact Sheets on animal care (specific species and animal groups) and key issues (allergies, pain and distress) which are downloadable as PDFs at:
http://www.kids4research.org/publications/caring_for_animals.htm

AALAS Foundation Seeks Auction Items for Charlotte

The AALAS Foundation is holding its annual Silent & Live Auctions again at the AALAS National Meeting in Charlotte! 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 items for the auction.

Auction Details: The Silent Auction opens Sunday, October 14th at 9:00 a.m. and closes Wednesday, October 17th at 12:30 p.m., immediately preceding the close of the exhibit hall. The Live Auction will be held Wednesday evening during the Foundation Appreciation Reception.

If you would like to donate an item for the Foundation Auction, please send a brief description of the item(s), approximate value, and donor info to Sheryl Joyner or by fax to 901-753-0046. Please call 901-754-8620 with questions. Donations must be received in the AALAS national office by September 14, 2007 (to be shipped to Charlotte) or you may bring your item to the Foundation Booth in the Charlotte Convention Center.

Ship items to:
AALAS Foundation
c/o Auction
9190 Crestwyn Hills Drive
Memphis, TN 38125