Modernization of Animal Studies

Natalie serves as 3Rs Scientific Liaison and Animal Welfare Specialist within AbbVie's Office of Animal Welfare. She earned a Master's degree in Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences from Illinois State University with an emphasis on applied behavior analysis. She spent her first 7 years at the company as a neuroscience pharmacologist in the area of CNS diseases research where she was responsible for a number of preclinical in vivo models. While working with these sensitive animals and models, Natalie developed a passion for improving research animal welfare and promoting refinement, replacement and reduction of animal use in research. She recognized that there were many opportunities for improving both animal welfare and scientific practices by way of the 3Rs. It was also clear that while an ethical obligation to adopt alternatives when possible exists, researchers have little time to pursue the studies necessary to assess the impact of change that comes with 3Rs implementation. This full-time role dedicated to the 3Rs was created strengthening the company's commitment and promoting smarter science through the 3Rs. Working under the Director of Animal Welfare, with many scientific mentors in R&D, Natalie serves as an ambassador and scientific liaison to facilitate and communicate all AbbVie's global 3Rs efforts. Natalie also serves as Global Animal Welfare Specialist to support compliance with AbbVie's Global Animal Welfare Policy, USDA regulations, and AAALAC International expectations by coordinating a global 3rd party supplier oversight program for all contracted animal use.

Natalie enjoys and sees value in building relationships with, and collaborating with other, like-minded professionals in this precompetitive space. She just served on the PRIM&R planning committee for the second year in a row and is honored to be serving as the Vice President of the newly formed North American 3Rs Collaborative and serves as Vice-Chair Elect and sits on the steering committee for the Innovation and Quality Consortium's 3Rs Leadership Group.

Her current research interests and collaborations include the parameters involved in successful social housing of male mice, benefits and 3Rs impact of utilizing digital vivarium technology, and further investigating the use of CO2 for refining humane euthanasia in rodents.

Sean Maguire, VMD, MS, DACLAM is a Comparative and Translational Sciences Veterinarian at GSK. He received his Veterinary degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his Master's degree in chemistry from Lehigh University. He is Diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine and has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry working across a range of species and disease areas and a special interest in animal model development.

Laura Schaevitz has more than 20 years of experience with In vivo animal studies. As Chief Scientific Officer at Vium, she oversees the development of animal models and draws upon her experiences as a molecular and behavioral neuroscientist to direct the application of Vium's digital metrics to the animal models. In past experiences, Laura utilized a broad spectrum of mouse models including transgenic and nutrition-induced models of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, Rett syndrome, and blindsight. Laura received her PhD in Neuroscience at Stanford University in 2006.