Industry news

It’s Important to stay aware The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) released its “Request for Information (RFI) on Clarifying the Reporting Requirements for Departures from the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals” (NOT-OD-21-161) in July of this year. The response deadline just passed as of November …

Clarifying the Reporting Requirements Read More »

Laboratory person holding a mouse

Our team here at TOPAZ Technologies is excited to announce the newest edition to the TOPAZ Elements Suite: Animal Breeding. TOPAZ Elements encompasses all the tools you need to efficiently and effectively manage protocols. Now with the addition of our new Animal Breeding Module, you can leverage your existing census data and improve workflows throughout …

New to Elements – Animal Breeding Module Read More »

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) on the Clarification of Institutional Responsibilities Regarding Grant to Protocol Congruency (NOT-OD-20-153). This clarification is being provided in part due to the 21st Century Cures Act (21CCA). As a reminder, the Cures Act is a law that was enacted in 2016 authorizing …

Institutional Responsibilities – Grant to Protocol Congruency Read More »

It’s certainly not the biggest news of the year, nor is it the most significant of changes, but it definitely deserves some attention. A 2020 Gallup Poll found that 56% of Americans believe medical testing on animals is morally acceptable (Brennan, 2020). Yes, this is just barely a majority, but it is a 5% increase …

Moral Acceptability of Medical Testing on Animals Increases Read More »

On May 21st, the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) made an exciting announcement that it is updating the reporting period for the Annual Report in order to harmonize with the Annual Report required for the USDA (NOT-OD-20-109). This is a direct outcome of the 21st Century Cures Act (21CCA) and, notably, it is the …

OLAW Harmonizes Annual Report with USDA Read More »

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly every aspect of our lives, despite whether we know anyone who has contracted the virus or not. From visits to the doctor to shopping for groceries, and working from home to furloughs and layoffs, it has affected us all. Plenty has certainly changed in the field of research as …

The Effect of COVID-19 on Research Funding Read More »

It’s that time of year! Here in Texas, the weather is a little cooler, Halloween candy is in the stores, and USDA reports are being generated!  These reports are required by the Animal Welfare Act and must be submitted by December 1st, so October is when most folks start working on them. This year, we have the …

How to Use TOPAZ Elements for USDA Reporting Read More »

As mentioned in the previous blog post, TOPAZ Reporter is a module of the Elements suite that provides a very powerful ad-hoc report-building tool. Reporter provides the customer with the ability to generate a wide range of reports covering compliance, facility operations, and animal health data that can include a host of advanced features such as …

The Scoop on TOPAZ Reporter Read More »

The 21st Century Cures Act, signed into law on December 13, 2016, is designed to help accelerate medical product development and bring innovations and new advances to patients who need them faster and more efficiently.  The Cures Act sought to “catalyze development of new medical technologies at a unique moment in history when fundamental advances in our …

The 21st Century Cures Act Read More »

The use of RFID technology to ease the tracking of cages in the animal facility has taken a long time to take off.  It was at least 15 years ago when TOPAZ presented RFID technology to our Annual User Conference in the full expectation that within a few years, everyone would be using it!  In practice the …

RFID and other Cage Technologies Read More »