Spotlight on Frontline Workers in Animal Care
At the height of the pandemic shutdown, when businesses across the state remained closed and many were working from home, BU’s Animal Science Center had its lights on. The Animal Science Center (ASC) provides quality care to the thousands of animals enrolled in research projects at BU. While data acquisition for non-COVID research was on hold across the University, many animals still live out their lives in BU’s facilities under the care of experienced animal care staff. As with any other medical interventions, the vast majority of countermeasures against COVID-19 will at some point require validation in animal models before they are approved for human use.
Every day, dedicated ASC staff come to work to provide food and water, clean cages, and clinical oversight to the animals that rely on their care. In addition to safeguarding the health and welfare of the animals, the ASC also contributes to the safekeeping of the thousands of research dollars and years of progress at stake if the animal colonies were lost. Animal husbandry and sanitation can be repetitive, physically demanding, and thankless, but ASC staff have continued to provide quality care for their charges, even in the midst of warnings about risks to human health from the pandemic.
While the ASC has imposed strict measures to facilitate social distancing at work and provided personal protective equipment to workers to commute, the dedication to care and the support for research comes from the staff. ASC staff are essential, from animal care staff to highly trained technical personnel to those who work in maximum level containment laboratories: all have a role to play in the custodianship of research at BU and in the search for COVID countermeasures.
Please join us in recognizing those who work behind the scenes caring for the animals and supporting research, those whose work is most often performed outside of the limelight. Let’s thank them for all that they do!
– Rao Varada, Director, Boston University Animal Science Center