Supporting Research and Teaching with Animals at Bishop’s University

Did you know that to be eligible for grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada, institutions must be compliant with the norms and guidelines set forth by the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) in order to ensure that all research and teaching conducted with the use of animals respects the highest ethical standards and best practices? That is why the Animal Care and Biosafety Committee exists: to make sure that animals used in research are subject to the least possible amount of discomfort, and that students, professors and technicians manipulating biohazardous materials do so safely.

All institutional Animal Care Committee must include a veterinarian. Since 2005, Dr. Michel Talbot, veterinarian at the animal facility at the Faculté de médecine et des sciences de la santé at the Université de Sherbrooke, sits on the ACBC to provide invaluable insights into the welfare of animals and examples of best practices for their observation and manipulation. Dr. Talbot has been instrumental in providing review of protocols involving chipmunks, wood frogs, fish and other vertebrates, and in guiding representatives of the CCAC in their regulatory visits to Bishop’s University.

The Research Support Fund of the Federal Government supports a portion of the costs associated with getting Dr. Talbot’s expertise.