Facility Orientation and Workshop Schedule

All personnel must undergo animal training before participating in their respective project. Training is imperative for the protection of the animals, researchers, staff members and yourself. Here is a breakdown of our offered courses, listed from the most basic to the most advanced: 

• ‘A’ workshop – species-specific handling.
• ‘B’ workshop – training in protocol-specific procedures (note. preceded by ‘A’).
• Facility orientation – an introduction to your facility and provision of key-card access.
• Advanced procedures, if applicable:
  • Rodent C – Rat or Mouse Surgery
  • Rodent Anesthesia – Rat or Mouse Anesthesia
  • Mouse Breeding – Breeding techniques for Mouse colonies.
  • Mentor-Facilitated Training (MFT) – invasive procedures that are not covered in the workshop curriculum, to be done with a certified technician, veterinarian, Principal Investigator (PI), or another experienced trainer. 

Rodent workshops (i.e. Anesthesia, Surgery) are accompanied by a 1.5-hour-long online lecture available on Courselink. Surgery and Anesthesia lectures must be completed prior to the practical session. To use your surgery and anesthesia skills in practice, you must schedule a separate date/time for Skill Certification with a certified ACS veterinarian. This can be done by emailing the instructors directly. You may be certified by the instructor of your initial Surgery/Anesthesia workshop if you wish.

Before you are registered for any training workshop, please ensure that you have completed the Animal User Training Core Modules, have logged into the AUP system, and are listed under relevant procedures on your AUP. Once you have confirmed these tasks, send the training office (training@uoguelph.ca) a registration email answering the following questions:

1. Have you completed the compulsory Core Modules? If so, provide a cohort number
2. Under which AUP are you listed? If you are unsure, please inquire with your supervisor.
3. What are the specific procedures you will be doing, and what is your experience in performing them?
4. What is your level of study at the University of Guelph (undergraduate student, graduate student, postdoctoral student, other)? 
5. When will your research project start? When will you begin working with live animals?
6. Which facility will you work at? Have you received facility orientation?

Your PI should be copied on this email.  

Please find the scheduled workshops for this semester below. Note that dates are subject to change based on student needs and research demands.