Animal Medical Research

[Pony]

I'm looking into working as a veterinary assistant at a company that supplies non-human primates for medical research. My goal is to eventually apply to animal behavior or maybe specifically primatology grad programs. For now I want to get some work experience to figure out what I want to do and bolster my app for grad school. The working with monkeys part of the job sounds great. I don't have any previous experience so I feel like it would be a good first step into primatology/animal science. My concern though is that it's a medical research facility. You hear a lot about ethical issues and inhumane conditions related to these institutions, but it's hard to judge the validity of these claims. Does anyone have any experience with animal medical research? I want the experience working with the monkeys, but I'm not sure I want to work with them in this way. Also, I'm not sure how relevant this would actually be to my eventual grad school application and if it's worth sinking a year or so into. If anyone with more experience could offer any advice that would be awesome.

[MidwesternAloha]

I have previous employment experience at an animal medical facility, and IACUC ensures none of them are treated inhumanely. Some animals used in tumor studies made me sad, initially, but we were educated on tumor placement so it wouldn't interfere with the animal's range of motion. Those animals were treated better than most pets, let me tell you! I can't speak for all animal medical research but that's just my experience.

[neuropanic]

We have non-human primates in our lab. I don't work with them, but they all have names and we always know which is which and they are very carefully taken care of. I get that some of the experiments can be stressful for the animal, but there are so many regulations. I know people who got out of doing research on vertebrates because there were too many regulations.

[Shamrock_Frog]

Anywhere I've worked that had animal research, it was taken seriously. ("Research is a privilege.") As others have said IACUC guidelines are important. Now there are individuals who...had issues. When you go for an interview, pay attention to the culture of the workplace.
Where I've worked ethics is taken seriously and issues are addressed immediately. I came from a different field to this job and let's just say ethics was a joke there. I left as soon as possible. (this other job was not academic research at all).
 

[Adelantero]

Are you familiar with the Story Collider? This is a podcast in story format with stories told by people working in or affected by science. Sometimes it's a good listen, sometimes not. I bring this up because there's a great episode http://storycollider.org/podcast/2012-01-15 here ("Inside the Monkey Lab"). Basically the story of a guy in a somewhat similar position, and how he handles working in a lab where non-human primates are used for medical research. It's not propaganda in one direction or another, just one young biologist's very personal experiences. It's about a 13-minute listen.

[ilovelab]

IACUC regulations/standards are prevent research animals from being treated inhumanely. If you are working at an institution the vivariums that house the animals follow IACUC regulations strictly. Honestly the research animals live better than their counterparts in the wild. They have unlimited food and water.

   The biggest thing when working with research animals is making sure you don't get attached. The storycollider podcast is a great example of what happens to people when they get emotionally attached to research animals that will require terminal procedures. Its fine when you are just doing behavior work and giving them treats/rewards but when you have to kill the animals its different. The monkeys and mice that I work with will get "sac'd" eventually I don't enjoy doing it but I have to for my research.

   I had an undergrad who named all of the mice we were working with and when it came time to sac the mice and preform cardiac perfusions she couldn't do it. 3 months of work went down the drain because she was emotionally attached.

   If you can't remain unattached to the research animals you are working with than animal research is not for you. The company you work for may have you to tumor implants for example, is that something you are comfortable with?  You may have to sac monkeys and harvest tissues, would you be fine with that?

[berba9]

This was recently published and is quite horrifying, but talks about events quite a while ago.

 

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/18/i-was-an-animal-experimenter/

[ilovelab]

This was recently published and is quite horrifying, but talks about events quite a while ago.

 

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/18/i-was-an-animal-experimenter/

 

  That's not relevant. What they did in the 60-70's would not be allowed by IAUCC now. Research animals are not treated that way.

[blinchik]

That's what I was going to say. Obviously, there are occasionally some studies that somehow get conducted without IRB approval and are unethical, but they are few and far in between.

[madisonprimate]

greetings, please look here for the minimum guidelines for the housing of primates in laboratories:

 

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/downloads/Animal%20Care%20Blue%20Book%20-%202013%20-%20FINAL.pdf

just so you know what you will be getting in to. ...page 99 shows the primate housing regulations.

 

in my opinion, the guidelines are inadequate for the monkey species - they are smart and we are testing on them because they are similar to us, so it stands to reason that the small cages would cause abnormal behaviors and injury.  We tried to improve it through enrichment, etc, but there were injuries at least once per week - with 90+ monkeys. 

 

In the lab I worked in, I tried to bring about change to improve the welfare of the monkeys and create a retirement program to retire them whenever possible into primate sanctuaries (because other labs were actually retiring their monkeys, but in our lab it was deemed activism :/ ).  Because I tried to improve things, I was labeled an activist, told I was no longer trusted, and told I would not be given a good recommendation. After five years of service to the lab, my career was ruined in about 3 months. 

 

If you care about the animals, it affects your sleep, your life, everything, and if you dare to speak up to improve things, you run the risk of getting your career ruined. 

 

that being said, animal research needs more caring individuals, so get in, get your experience, and get out before you become labeled would be my advice - or look up the nearest primate sanctuary near you through NAPSA and see if you can go that route. 

 

if you are in to helping primates, then may be best off in a zoo or sanctuary environment. just my two cents. 

good luck. 

[Taeyers]

I work with mice in biomedical research. And by that I mean that I've done experiments where I wean, routinely care for, make veterinary care decisions for, give drugs to, and sacrifice mice. I'm a huge animal lover and the reason I could do those experiments is because, as many have already said, extremely strict guidelines are in place to ensure that those animals are treated humanely. I have commented a few times that those mice receive better medical and end-of-life care than we do, and I was only kind of joking. Mice and rats that I see used daily by others around me are also treated very carefully and respectfully. The IACUC doesn't approve any animal use protocols unless the rewards reasonably justify the risks and pain/distress are minimized as much as possible.

 

WRT a previous comment about becoming attached, I agree to a large degree, but not entirely. Truthfully, I talk to my mice, get to know them a little, and while I know better than to name them, I do feel sad when I have to sacrifice them. I really do not like sac day. But know what? That's ok, I allow myself to feel sad while still knowing that I'm ending the mouse's life in the kindest way that minimizes fear and eliminates pain. I've had an undergrad ask me before if I would want to die the way my mice do, and I truthfully would. So that's how I get through it - not by avoiding sadness but by doing my best to respect the mouse in a sad situation. The research has to be done and the mice have to be sacrificed, so I'm proud to say that at least everything I do is being done humanely. 

Edited April 24, 2015 by Taeyers