Patricia McAdams – författare

The obligation to treat animals used in research ethically and humanely extends beyond their lives in the laboratory to include their transportation from place to place. Yet transporting animals is a highly regulated and complex process that raises many difficult issues.

To examine these issues, the Roundtable on Science and Welfare in Laboratory Animal Use held a workshop on September 3-4, 2014, in Washington, DC. More than 200 people participated in the workshop in person and online, including representatives of academic research institutions, pharmaceutical and consumer product companies, government agencies, research advocacy groups, professional associations, and the public. The workshop was designed to draw attention to the essential thoughtful journey planning behind each transport of laboratory animals.

Microbiologists have become interested in applying "systems biology" to understand and harness complex biological processes in microbial communities. A systems approach, which attempts to use comparative, high-throughput assays, and mathematical or computational models, has been used to generate a picture of system-wide activity that can yield insight into processes operating within a single cell. But the concept of integrating advances in genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics and incorporating them into mathematical models can also be applied to microbial ecosystems, which typically occur in consortia of related and unrelated organisms. Research on microbial communities using a system-based approach could provide a broader perspective on controls on biological processes and how they operate in and among microorganisms.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop on "Progress and Promises of Systems Microbiology" in August 2003, with the intent of providing a forum for discussion of the tools, technology, and programs that are needed to advance the study of microorganisms through a systems approach. Participants also discussed ways to encourage collaboration among scientists of different disciplines. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.