BRF End of Year Message 2019
This is my last email for 2019 and what a productive year it has been!
We have a number of people to thank:
-
First and foremost the incredible research labs without whom we wouldn’t be here – thank you for the opportunity to support your ground-breaking projects and care for your animals. It is a privilege to work with such talented and dedicated people and at TRI we work with some of the most professional, appreciative and caring groups there are.
-
The University of Queensland Biological Resources team who provide us with central administration and services and basically keep everything going that is required to keep a great team functioning well – thank you for your ongoing advice and support.
-
Numerous TRI teams – including administration, safety, building operations, security, finance, reception, IT, marketing – who have all been extremely helpful in getting key projects happening and keeping our facility at a world-class status.
-
The animal welfare unit and AECs who work hard to try and ensure that we maintain high animal welfare standards and troubleshoot the inevitable challenges that come with working with animals for research purposes.
-
Lastly but certainly not least I would like to thank the fantastic TRI BRF team who have continued to work hard all year to adapt to changes and to improve our services and performance even further.
A sample of the key achievements that we are proud of (and very much appreciate support for) this year include:
-
Successfully cross-training a large number of team members, particularly technicians based in the breeding wing to provide greater availability and redundancy for technical services and support of the gnotobiotics facility, to reduce the workload and mental health risks for technicians focused on technical procedures and to improve the career opportunities and work variety for the team in general.
-
Hosting the inaugural washroom workshop, where we showcased our washroom operations to attendees from across Australia and New Zealand, providing training and collaborative discussion on this key area of laboratory animal care.
-
Hitting a number of big milestones with the gnotobiotics facility – successfully performing germ free surgeries (caesarean, vasectomy and research procedures), first in Australia to perform embryo transfers and rederiving 8 new lines to germ free status, first in Australia to use PC3 caging for gnotobiotic studies, expansion of the facility to two full rooms (24 isolators) and utilising gnotobiotic equipment to enable and contain risk for work with animals that would normally be excluded from our facility due to their health status.
-
Hosting a record number of veterinary technology students and UQBR staff exchanges – around 15 placements for 1 week each, with consistently positive feedback.
-
More training and awareness on mental health in general, including trialling some paid services from UQ’s EAP provider for specialised coaching and a workshop to improve wellbeing and communication amongst the team.
-
Successful trial of exhaust air dust testing for more sensitive detection of infectious agents in our animal colonies and implementation of a comprehensive health monitoring policy.
-
Implementation of technical bookings on PPMS system to improve notice periods, information provided, resources planning and reporting for technical services.
-
50% increase in technical services – 174 hours per month on average.
-
Review and purchasing of new IT and anaesthetic equipment, ongoing review of regular consumables to optimise quality and minimise wastage/excessive costs.
-
First ‘duo-talks’ with researchers and animal technicians presenting on projects together.
-
Last but not least – the everyday critical work – checking >2000 cages/day, changing, dumping, cleaning and re-assembling >50,000 cages, setting up ~2000 breeder pairs, weaning and collecting samples from ~2000 animals, managing 15 animal imports, inducting ~100 researchers, BRF staff recruitment, training and appraisals, covering >4000 hours of leave and passing all of our WHS, OGTR, quarantine and AEC inspections.
Best wishes for a safe and enjoyable festive season – we look forward to the new and exciting opportunities that 2020 will bring!
