A Better Way
Improving the Care and Use of Laboratory Mice — One Man’s Career
by Robert S. Sedlacek, MS
with Steven M. Niemi, DVM, DACLAM
Follow Bob Sedlacek as he maneuvers through a 50-year career, beginning in rural Wyoming and culminating at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the premier academic medical centers in the world.
This memoir flourishes from the perspective of a man who would not let egos and conventions of the scientific establishment hold him down. Bucking outdated perceptions, he leveraged novel insight, common sense, and chutzpah to create many rodent husbandry and research equipment and processes routinely used today. This is a must-read for lab animal personnel everywhere.
Highlights
Bob’s groundbreaking innovations include:
The first laminar flow, HEPA-filtered workstation designed and used specifically for handling rodent cages without any contamination
The first system for acidifying drinking water on a mass scale to avoid bacterial infection of gnotobiotic mice, thus extending their lives
The first tunnel washer system to use only cold (room temperature) wash and rinse water, no detergents, and stainless steel hold-downs to prevent cages flipping over
The first (and possibly cheapest ever) means to combine acidification and ultraviolet light to sterilize drinking water for either bottles or automatic watering systems
The first means to maintain sterile cages while being transported to and from housing roomsband while changing those cages
The first heated whole-body irradiator and heated recovery tables to avoid hypothermia in anesthetized mice undergoing irradiation or recovering from surgery, respectfully
The first entire vivarium maintained at 78-80º F to safeguard the mouse’s natural thermoneutral zone and avoid nonstop chilling with its adverse effects on behavior and metabolism
And many, many more