Prima Nexus ran CODA blood pressure training and supported four laboratory animal workshops and courses in 2017

From the Prima Nexus archive: a look back at June to December 2017.

SERDANG, 5 December 2017: Prima Nexus supported the Workshop on the Care & Use of Rodents in Research, held by the Comparative Medicine and Technology Unit (COMeT) and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Serdang on 5 and 6 December 2017. Earlier in the year it trained researchers at IPharm to measure blood pressure in laboratory animals with the CODA non-invasive system, and supported courses and workshops at the Advanced Medical and Dental Institute (AMDI), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), and at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM).

Blood pressure in laboratory animals, without an invasive procedure

The CODA session took place at the Animal Research Facilities of the Malaysian Institute of Pharmaceuticals and Nutraceuticals (IPharm), part of the National Institutes of Biotechnology Malaysia (NIBM). Kimmy Lai and a colleague from Prima Nexus led it, with everyone in gowns, hair covers, face masks and gloves. At the bench, each part of the system, its controller, tubing and laptop, was explained while participants followed with printed notes, and the group saw the laboratory animals in their cages, whose blood pressure the system measures without an invasive procedure.

Courses and workshops at AMDI, UiTM and UPM

From 21 to 24 August, Prima Nexus supported the OECD GLP Intensive Course for Study Director of Test Facilities at the Animal Research Centre of AMDI, USM, in Bertam, Penang. At UiTM it supported the 8th Workshop on Laboratory Rodents (Rats and Mice) Care and Use, held by the Laboratory Animal Facility and Management (LAFAM) of the Faculty of Pharmacy in Puncak Alam on 19 and 20 September, and a workshop on experimental ophthalmology and on pre- and post-operation care and enrichment for laboratory animals at the Faculty of Medicine in Sungai Buloh on 16 and 17 November.

At UPM in December, Assoc Prof Dr Chen Hui Cheng and Assoc Prof Dr Goh Yong Meng covered the rules, ethics and science of using rodents in research, from the IACUC UPM forms, pain and anaesthesia management and humane end points to rodent strains, statistics and nutrition. Both afternoons were hands-on sessions in handling and blood sampling, the first led by Dr Mohd Hafidz Mohd Izhar and the COMeT staff.

Prima Nexus's part

Prima Nexus organised the CODA session, provided both trainers from its life science team and gave participants a certificate of attendance. It supported the four other courses and workshops, and worked with COMeT again in 2025, on animal anaesthesia training. More photos are on the event pages for the CODA training and the UPM workshop. Today Prima Nexus runs animal studies in rats and mice, and no animal work starts before the study has IACUC approval.