Externs participate in laboratory animal medicine activities and comparative medicine research, but may emphasize one or more areas depending on their interests.
LABORATORY ANIMAL MEDICINE: externs participate in the day to day activities of providing clinical veterinary care to research animals. They assist and participate in routine health care and diagnosis and designing treatment plans for a diverse group of animals including dogs, cats, rabbits, swine, rats, mice and genetically-engineered animals. Externs gain experience in laboratory animal practice/facility management by observing interactions and problem solving between laboratory animal veterinarians, research staff and animal care staff. Externs may also participate in experimental surgeries and facility inspections if the latter are ongoing during the externs visit.
COMPARATIVE MEDICINE RESEARCH: Externs are assigned a research project, depending on project availability. The extern conducts a literature review, implements the project, analyzes data generated and gives a short presentation at the completion of the externship. Externs can also rotate with post-DVM trainees of the CMP who are actively engaged in research projects. During these rotations, externs discuss projects and participate in laboratory procedures.
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES: Externs may also participate in a variety of ongoing activities such as seminars, review of pathology slides, lab meetings, journal clubs, animal handling laboratories and rounds. Externs are under the direct supervision of clinical veterinarians, research scientists, comparative pathologists and post-DVM trainees throughout the externship.
Personnel: The MU Comparative Medicine Training Program overseen by a committee of 13 faculty whose credentials include DACLAM (5), DVM (9), PhD (7), and MS (5) with many dual-degreed. Their positions exemplify the broad and diverse roles of laboratory animal scientists. These include: clinical care of laboratory animals in a variety of settings ranging from conventional housing to barrier maintenance to biocontainment in BSL-3 facilities; disease prevention, control, and diagnosis; consultation with investigators on applications of animal models; animal resource administration and management; compliance, teaching; and primary research. Externs also have access to three ACLAM diplomates and a veterinarian diagnostician in IDEXX BioAnalytics, an internationally-recognized research animal diagnostic laboratory.
Facilities: The University of Missouri (MU) is a land grant university with animal care and use programs associated with six different divisions/colleges. The entire campus, with the exception of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources is AAALAC-accredited. MU is one of few universities that have a medical school, veterinary school and college of agriculture on the same campus. MU has a strong commitment to life sciences research as evidenced by facilities such as the Laboratory for Infectious Disease Research and the Life Sciences Center. The College of Veterinary Medicine is significantly involved in NIH funded research and has three animal model resource centers, the Mutant Mouse Resource and Research Center (MMRRC), the Rat Resource and Research Center (RRRC), and the MU Metagenomics Center (MUMC), as part of its Comparative Medicine Center. A third resource center, the National Swine Resource and Research Center (NSRRC) is located in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. These MU programs rely heavily upon animal-based research. All animal based research is under the authority of the Institutional Official, the Associate Vice Provost of Research, and one Animal Care and Use Committee. The campus animal care and use program is organized into the Office of Animal Resources (OAR) and the Office of Animal Care Quality Assurance (ACQA). The Director of OAR is the campus attending veterinarian and is responsible for the provision of adequate veterinary care for all MU owned animals. MU has one letter of assurance with OLAW for the entire campus and one registration with the USDA as a research facility. The animal care and use program, under one authority, plays an integral role in the expanded research mission of the University.
Educational Resources: In addition to the aforementioned facilities, externs have access to up-to-date personal computers in research laboratories and post-doctoral trainee offices. For their research project, externs also have access to well-equipped laboratories with the usual equipment common to modern molecular biology/biomedical laboratories.
Externs also learn through participation in clinical, regulatory and pathology rounds, research lab meetings, seminars, webinars, facility inspections, journal clubs, postgraduate course work, rodent handling labs, team-building activities, protocol reviews, surgeries, rodent and fish colony management, access to CMP & CVM libraries, and tours and discussions about rodent and swine resource centers as well as outside facilities such as IDEXX BioAnalytics.
Students are expected to attend scheduled events, participate in clinical, regulatory and administrative activities, schedule various laboratories and activities (provided as a checklist), complete a research project and give an oral presentation during the externship.
If requested, our externship coordinator can assist students with finding a current residento or veterinary student to host them during their externship (in some cases there may be housing fees). If students would like to look on their own, a good place to start is MU’s Off-Campus Living site http://offcampus.missouri.edu/. It is highly advantageous for students to have their own vehicle for transportation during their externship at MU. Public transportation in Columbia can be difficult due to limited and inflexible transportation routes and schedules (many routes are not running during the summer months). If students do not have their own transportation, they should try to make other arrangements or schedule their visit when another extern will be at the University of Missouri so that they can coordinate rides. The following account number (XZ51071) may also be used to rent a vehicle from Enterprise or National.