BU ASC Vivarium Operational Changes effective Monday 3/23/2020

Dear Researcher,

To proactively manage our animal colonies and resources under the current and predicted restrictions posed by COVID-19, ASC is implementing the following changes within our vivaria effective Monday 3/23/2020:

  1. Reduced PPE in rodent areas: Working with EHS, ASC has created a plan to reduce the use of face masks, hairnets, and jumpsuits inside our vivaria. These changes while still providing appropriate protection to users through our engineering controls (biosafety cabinets and cage change stations) will help to save PPE for the growing medical needs. New signs will be posted in each area. See the attachment for details.
  2. Marking of critical and cull cages: While we hope that we will not encounter staff reductions to the point of being unable to care for our animal colonies of the current size, we are asking that labs identify critical and non-critical cages in the vivarium to prepare for that possibility. We are providing highlighters (orange and blue) at the room level to write “S” for SAVE (orange) on critical cages or “E” for EUTHANIZE (blue) on those that may be culled in such an event. Highlighter letters should not interfere with legibility of other cage card information. Please do not label all colony cages “S”. We do not plan to euthanize any cages without specific requests at this point: this is precautionary. We ask that you mark these cages by Monday March 23. Please also consider cryopreservation of critical lines through MART or an off-site vendor. *For aquatics, please label tanks to SAVE with an orange circle sticker.
  3. Research support activities: We are unable to accept new requests for long-term research-related support (e.g. dosing for study purposes, in-person training). We are still providing regular services, such as weaning, tailing, and veterinary care. If there are some specific short-term or smaller requests that we can help with, please reach out to one of our managers and we will assess on a case-by-case basis and let you know.

Thank you for all of your help and patience during this challenging time.

Sincerely,

Rao Varada DVM, PhD, DACLAM

Director, BU ASCThe Animal Science Center manages and oversees animal-relate...

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