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Suggested Citation:"Opening Remarks, Shin-Ichi Ota." National Research Council. 2000. Microbial Status and Genetic Evaluation of Mice and Rats: Proceedings of the 1999 US/Japan Conference. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9987.
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Opening Remarks

Shin-Ichi Ota

Director

Division of Science Information

Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture

Tokyo, Japan

It is unnecessary to repeat the many positive consequences of this cooperative program since its beginning in 1980. However, I would like to mention the following noteworthy publications that have resulted from our meetings:

  • Manual of Microbiologic Monitoring of Laboratory Animals, 1st and 2nd eds. (USPHS/NIH 1986, 1994).

  • Establishment and Preservation of Reference Inbred Strains of Rats for General Purpose Use (Nomura and Potkay 1991).

International standardization of rats was undertaken first by this US/Japan Cooperative Program and subsequently by the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS). These activities have reached a global scale with the ICLAS International Rat Genetic Nomenclature Committee, which met first in 1994 in Sapporo, Japan; second in 1996 in Toulouse, France; and third in 1998 in Halifax, Canada.

Recently, biotechnology has made remarkable progress using transgenic animals, and international collaborative studies have used these animals widely. International harmonization of drug safety data for new drug development is also under way. Therefore, international standardization of the quality of laboratory animals as tools for obtaining reproducible data has become even more important.

The composition and location of US/Japan meetings have recently changed slightly. Earlier meetings were hosted by the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health. For the last 2 years, we have met

Suggested Citation:"Opening Remarks, Shin-Ichi Ota." National Research Council. 2000. Microbial Status and Genetic Evaluation of Mice and Rats: Proceedings of the 1999 US/Japan Conference. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9987.
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at the National Academy of Sciences, where the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research has been our host. I sincerely hope that we will continue having these meetings and will expand our discussion topics in the future. Since 1980, this meeting has been held only in the United States. For the US/Japan Science and Technology Cooperative Program to pursue the mutual benefit for which it was established, I believe that some future meetings should be held in Japan or, if Japan is not possible, in Hawaii.

Finally, I sincerely thank Dr. Judith Vaitukaitis and Dr. Ralph Dell as well as all US participants for their efforts in organizing this meeting.

REFERENCES

Nomura T, Potkay S. 1991. Establishment and Preservation of Reference Inbred Strains of Rats for General Purpose Use: Report on U.S.-Japan Non-Energy Research and Development Cooperation: Laboratory Animal Science. ILAR News 33(3):42-44.

USPHS/NIH [US Public Health Service/National Institutes of Health] . 1986. Manual of Microbiologic Monitoring of Laboratory Animals. 1st ed. (NIH Publication No. 86-2498). Washington, DC: GPO.

USPHS/NIH [US Public Health Service/National Institutes of Health] . 1994. Manual of Microbiologic Monitoring of Laboratory Animals. 2nd ed. (NIH Publication No. 94-2498). Washington, DC: GPO.

Suggested Citation:"Opening Remarks, Shin-Ichi Ota." National Research Council. 2000. Microbial Status and Genetic Evaluation of Mice and Rats: Proceedings of the 1999 US/Japan Conference. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9987.
×
Page 4
Suggested Citation:"Opening Remarks, Shin-Ichi Ota." National Research Council. 2000. Microbial Status and Genetic Evaluation of Mice and Rats: Proceedings of the 1999 US/Japan Conference. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9987.
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US/Japan meetings on laboratory animal science have been held virtually every year since 1980 under the US/Japan Cooperative Program on Science and Technology. Over the years these meetings have resulted in a number of important documents including the Manual of Microbiologic Monitoring of Laboratory Animals published in 1994 and the article Establishment and Preservation of Reference Inbred Strains of Rats for General Purposes. In addition to these publications, the meetings have been instrumental in increasing awareness of the need for microbiologic monitoring of laboratory rodents and the need for genetic definition and monitoring of mice and rats.

In cooperation with the Comparative Medicine section of NCRR/NIH, the ILAR Council and staff are pleased to become the host for this important annual meeting and look forward to participating in future meetings. The support and sponsorship of NCRR (P40 RR 11611) in the United States and the Central Institute for Experimental Animals in Japan are gratefully acknowledged. Bringing together the leading scientists in the field of laboratory animal care has resulted in increased understanding of American and Japanese approaches to laboratory animal science and should continue to strengthen efforts to harmonize approaches aimed at resolving common challenges in the use of animal models for biomedical research and testing. This effort to improve understanding and cooperation between Japan and the United States should also be useful in developing similar interaction with other regions of the world including Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia.

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