Roundtable on Science and Welfare in Laboratory Animal Use

The purpose of the Roundtable is to facilitate on-­‐going discussion and information exchange on topics of interest to those involved with the science and welfare of using laboratory animals.This application requests funds from the Food and Drug Administration to partially support the second of two workshops convened under the auspices of the Roundtable during the first year of its operation. The topic of the first workshop, on June 4-­‐5, 2014 was Reproducibility issues in research with animals and animal models (http://nas-­‐ sites.org/ilar-­‐roundtable/roundtable-­‐workshops/reproducibility-­‐issues-­‐in-­‐research-­‐with-­‐ animals-­‐and-­‐animal-­‐models-­‐a-­‐workshop/) while the second, scheduled for September 3-­‐ 4, 2014 will focus on issues relating to the Transportation of laboratory animals. The workshops present opportunities for 1) outreach to and dialogue with all communities who share an interest in the use of laboratory animals in research; 2) sharing of cutting edge scientific information; and 3) increased understanding of the topics and identification of possible follow-­‐on activities to improve the quality of biomedical research and laboratory animal welfare.The workshops are open to the public and webcasted and no fee is charged to attend or view the workshop via the web.Animal-­‐based research is a fundamental component of the preclinical research and development and proof-­‐of-­‐concept studies of drugs, biologics and medical devices. Ensuring the highest quality of these studies depends on the continuing education of the research, scientific and veterinary communities. As such the purpose of the Roundtable and the two workshops is consistent with the mission of the FDA to “..protect[ing] the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation”.