Prima Nexus sponsored laboratory animal workshops, LASAM's 20th AGM and the 7th MAVP conference in 2015

From the Prima Nexus archive: a look back at January to August 2015.

MELAKA, 20 August 2015: Prima Nexus sponsored the Scientific Seminar and 20th Annual General Meeting of the Laboratory Animal Science Association of Malaysia (LASAM) at Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur on 13 August 2015, and the 7th MAVP Scientific Conference 2015 of the Malaysian Association of Veterinary Pathology at Mahkota Hotel Melaka from 20 to 23 August. Earlier in 2015, its second year, Prima Nexus sponsored two hands-on workshops on handling laboratory mice and rats: one at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) in Sungai Buloh in January, and one at UCSI University in Kuala Lumpur in April.

Animal welfare law at the LASAM seminar

The LASAM day ran from 8.30 am to 2.00 pm at Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur, KL Sentral, and combined scientific talks with the association's yearly meeting of members. Dato' Dr Quaza Nizamuddin Hassan Nizam of the Department of Veterinary Services spoke on Malaysia's Animal Welfare Act, then still a bill, and what it would mean for animal research, including licences for research, testing and teaching that use animals, and the 3Rs: replace, reduce and refine. The other speakers were Dr Teng Kim Tiu of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, and Dr Lim Ban Keong and Ms Seetha Jaganathan of Rhone Ma Group.

Hands-on workshops at UiTM and UCSI

UiTM's LACU and its Institute of Medical Molecular Biotechnology (IMMB) held the 3rd Laboratory Animal Handling Workshop 2015: Mice & Rat at the IMMB, Faculty of Medicine, UiTM Sungai Buloh, from 13 to 15 January. On 1 and 2 April, the Research and Scholarly Activity Committee of UCSI University's Faculty of Applied Sciences held its Workshop on Laboratory Animal Handling and Ethics at the university's South Wing in Cheras. Mr Low Kiat Cheong, secretary of the UKM Animal Ethics Committee, led the course. It covered animal care and ethics, biosafety, and the handling, restraint and anaesthesia of mice and rats, with demonstrations of oral gavage and bleeding, and practical sessions on anaesthesia, intravenous injection and bleeding.

A conference in Melaka, and Prima Nexus's part

The Malaysian Association of Veterinary Pathology (MAVP) held its 7th MAVP Scientific Conference 2015 at Mahkota Hotel Melaka from 20 to 23 August. Prima Nexus sponsored all four events. At the LASAM seminar it also arranged the meeting venue, and two colleagues from Prima Nexus attended. A year later, Prima Nexus was invited to speak at the 5th National Conference on Laboratory Animal Science, held with LASAM's 21st AGM, told in our 2016 story. More photos are on the event pages for the LASAM seminar and the UCSI workshop. Today, Prima Nexus supports researchers who work with laboratory animals through its animal studies service.