CALAM Sessions at CALAS this year were once again a huge success!

Our CALAM hosted sessions are usually a hit - and this year was no exception. We kicked off the Monday afternoon with a fantastic Luncheon session, delivered by Dr. Momar Ndao, DVM, MSc, PhD, entitled Are Humans Really the Dominant Species on Earth?

Here is the session description if you missed the session:

During the past few years, increased awareness of infectious diseases has led to newly recognized and emerging pathogens. However, these pathogens thrive because they have many ways of fooling our immune systems. The spectrum of clinical features is broad, ranging from silent infection to fulminant. Diagnosing some microorganisms remains difficult, and the consequences of a missed diagnosis can be serious in humans and animals. Humans remain the perfect host for most pathogens!

Our afternoon parallel sessions were as follows:

Cotton Rats 101
Presented by: Carla Noreen

Cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) are susceptible to a wide variety of human pathogens and are useful models for human respiratory infections, immunology and vaccine development. They are usually housed singly due to intra-species aggression, and are generally jumpy, aggressive and difficult to handle. This behaviour, as well as their propensity to slough the skin from their tail during handling, necessitates the use of anesthesia for most procedures. We have used cotton rats at our facility for over 20 years and have developed several devices and techniques that have served us well over that time. We will review the literature and also share our experience and knowledge of cotton rat husbandry, handling and procedures. We hope this will stimulate an exchange of ideas and information amongst other cotton rat users in an effort to refine the care of this challenging species.

What's New in the Marmoset Model at the RI-MUHC
Presented by: Anne Pellegrin, Ioan Cozma, BA, A.A.S, TSAC/CAHT

The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is a widely used Non Human Primate (NHP) animal model in Biomedical research. Its small size, fast growth and ease of breeding have made it an ideal model for neuroscientific research worldwide and here at the Research Institute of McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). Our colony was created mainly for developing transgenic marmoset models for neuroscientific research such as Parkinson’s and Autism. The scientific team is dedicated to developing innovative techniques to produce these transgenic marmosets. While the research team continues to refine experimental procedures, the veterinary care team also strives to refine everything surrounding these procedures including sedation, anesthesia, analgesia as well as certain surgical methods used during the study. This presentation will give you an overview of the common marmoset, our breeding colony as well as a brief overview of the various procedures we have refined and that regularly take place in our facility including Laparoscopic Oocyte Pick Up (LOPU), vasectomies, Embryo Transfers (laparoscopically and trans-vaginally), pharmaco-kinetic studies, Health Exams. We hope to see you and be able to share knowledge with you!