Partners in Scientific Discovery & Responsible Research Amy Puffenberger ULAM Staff
As one of the nation’s oldest and most-recognized animal medicine programs, the Unit for Laboratory Animal Medicine (ULAM) has provided veterinary care to all animals housed at the University of Michigan for over 50 years. The proper care of laboratory animals involves attending to a wide range of physical and behavioral needs. This includes the provision of clean, appropriately lighted and well-ventilated housing, the ability to exercise, environmental enrichment, proper nutrition, and veterinary health care. ULAM’s dedicated team of laboratory animal care professionals, composed of licensed faculty veterinarians; veterinary residents; veterinary, husbandry, and research technicians; trainers; and research support staff provide aroundthe-clock animal care for the entire U-M research community. In addition to overseeing the standards of care for all animals on campus, ULAM also offers a variety of specialized research support services and a comprehensive training and education program for research personnel.
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rom life-saving drugs to vaccines, advancements in organ transplantation to cancer therapies, laboratory animals have played, and continue to play, an essential role in the development of nearly every major scientific breakthrough in human and animal medicine. Some of these discoveries, including the feline leukemia vaccine, flea control methods, and diagnostics and treatments for diabetes and cancer, have benefited companion animals as well as animals in the wild. These advances would not have been possible without the use of laboratory animals.
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Physiology Matters
In calendar year 2020, ULAM supported a total of 32 Principal Investigators (PIs) from U-M’s Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology. This included animal husbandry and housing in 12 different buildings across campus, accounting for approximately 9% of the University’s total animal population. While many of these studies are still ongoing, numerous others were published throughout the year. ULAM is especially proud to have supported Physiology Department research teams with the following studies from the past year: • Unlocking the Secrets of Brown Fat – In two separate studies published in Nature Communications and Science in March 2020, Liangyou Rui, Ph.D., and Ling Qi, Ph.D., both with the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology, used mouse models to explore the biology of brown fat and its implications for weight loss and obesity-related diseases. • High Blood Pressure Linked to Baroreflex in Rats – In October, Daniel Beard, Ph.D., Feng Gu, Ph.D., and their team from the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology described a newly observed phenomenon in the way blood pressure is maintained
