AALAS Webinar: Mouse Anesthesia: Improving the Process

Anesthesia of mice may be the most common procedure performed in biomedical research. Its frequency makes it easy to forget the fact that, because of their size and high metabolic rate, mice are a difficult species to safely and effectively anesthetize, or to question whether anesthesia protocols can be improved further. There are many research groups, including ours, which are studying ways to improve anesthesia protocols, monitoring, and interventions in mice. This webinar will focus on the science behind some of the challenges of mouse anesthesia and recent data which addressed some of these challenges. Researchers, veterinarians, and veterinary technicians will receive practical information and suggestions to implement in "real world" mouse anesthesia. The presenter is James Marx, DVM, PhD, DACLAM. He is assistant professor of pathobiology at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) School of Veterinary Medicine and assistant director of clinical care at UPenn University Laboratory Animal Resources. Dr. Marx attended veterinary school at Cornell University. After graduation, he worked in Florida as a small animal and emergency clinician for several years before returning to school at Penn State to obtain his PhD in Kinesiology. He continued to do emergency work in small animal medicine while earning his PhD and during two postdocs at Penn State and U Penn. He stayed on at U Penn as a staff veterinarian and joined the faculty at the veterinary school a year later. In addition to his clinical responsibilities, Dr. Marx developed a line of research focusing on improving the care of mice in biomedical research, with a special interest in mouse anesthesia. Dr. Marx is a 2011 GLAS recipient.