Welcome to MedLines

Welcome to Med Associates’ first issue of our company e-newsletter, MedLines. This e-newsletter will serve to keep you all updated to current events, developments, and on-going activities of our company.

In each issue of MedLines, we will bring you up-to-date information on new products, upcoming conventions, planned workshops, and many other activities. The format will include From the Founder, a message from Med Associates Founder, Karl Zurn. In What’s New, I will provide the latest information about upcoming activities and events and new product releases.

Featured Specials will contain information about products we are having a special sale on. For example, this month, we have several surplus sound attenuating cubicles that are no longer part of our standard offering. These cubicles are available at a special discounted price, and they may be “just what you were looking for” to isolate that extra chamber or other experimental apparatus.

Another exciting section, In Your Lab, will feature user-submitted research articles. These articles will touch on fundamental theoretical and practical issues regarding the use of Med Associates research equipment. In Your Lab will be paralleled by In Our Lab, which will feature a research article describing results of the latest research projects taking place at our Science and Research Facility.

In Product Particulars, we will compare/contrast various products within a particular line. Often times, these comparisons will be made directly by our valued customers.

Questions From the Field will contain frequently asked questions that we receive from researchers using our equipment. These questions may be derived from phone-in or email support calls, or they may be taken from our new Med Associates Researcher’s Round Table Forum. If we feature your question, we’ll send you a complimentary gift!

Many people are very curious to put a face with the names of our employees. Who We Are does just that. In each issue, we will feature brief biographical sketches for our employees that you may be very familiar with through phone or email conversations. Now you can see who these mysterious folks are, and learn a bit about their backgrounds.

Finally, each newsletter will contain Recent Citations. These will include citations that have recently been added to our citations database listing original research articles, review articles, or book chapters citing the use of Med Associates equipment in their studies. As always, you may submit your citations to citations@med-associates.com and you will be sure to see your papers appear on our citations website and in a future issue of MedLines.

 

Med Associates Congratulates the Behavioral Pharmacology Society on 50 Years!

Med Associates was pleased to be a sponsor for the annual BPS meeting held in conjunction with Experimental Biology 2007 in Washington, D.C. The BPS meeting was held on April 27th and 28th at the Washington Convention Center. Approximately 100 members of the society were in attendance for this special meeting commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Behavioral Pharmacology Society. Attendees received special-edition commemorative baseball caps issued by Med Associates, Inc.

Dr. Victor Laties, a long-time BPS member and Executive Editor of JEAB, presented a dinner lecture at the opening reception of the 2007 Annual Meeting of BPS in Washington, D.C. Dr. Laties discussed the history of BPS.

Med Associates and Razel Scientific Instruments Exhibit at the Recent Experimental Biology 2007 Convention

Med Associates displayed a wide range of behavioral, physiological, and pharmacological research products at the annual EB-2007 meeting in Washington, D.C. In addition, Razel Scientific Instruments displayed its full line of syringe pumps, including several new models.

 

Med Associates Short Courses in Neuroscience Summer 2007 Schedule

Once again, Med Associates is offering our well-received Short Courses in Neuroscience summer workshop curriculum. These courses will be conducted at our Saint Albans, Vermont Science and Research Facility. Check out our website for the latest details, or call our sales department at (802-527-9724) to receive more information.  Make sure to enroll early, as space is limited.

Measuring the Acoustic Startle Reflex Response in Rats and Mice-Prepulse Inhibition of the Acoustic Startle Reflex (PPI) and Fear Potentiation of the Startle Reflex (FPS) Course Dates – June 20-22, 2007 Cost - $450 This three-day intensive workshop is geared to introduce or reinforce the technical and practical aspects of classical conditioning approaches that are used to study learning and memory. This is a popular field of research, and our course will cover the academic basis of sensorimotor gating and conditioned fear. Two of the most well-established techniques for experimentally examining these phenomena will be covered: Prepulse Inhibition of the Acoustic Startle Reflex (PPI), and Fear Potentiation of the Startle Reflex (FPS). Both rat and mouse models of FPS and PPI will be examined. Hands-on laboratory exercises will give course attendees direct exposure to these techniques. In addition to the technical details of designing and conducting research protocols, a significant amount of time will be devoted to the practical aspects, such as properly calibrating audio stimuli, aversive stimulus generators, and load cell platforms for both rat and mouse studies. This course will be team taught by experts in the field who have well-respected reputations for teaching and research. Faculty members will be Dr. Bill Falls, from The University of Vermont, Dr. Edward Meloni, from Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital, and Dr. Ramona Rodriguez, from Duke University. Make sure to register early, as space is very limited in order to provide personal attention to each attendee.

Learning and Memory and Classical Fear Conditioning – The Freeze Response Course Dates – July 12-13, 2007 Cost - $350 This two-day intensive workshop will cover theoretical and technical aspects related to the study of conditioned fear using the freeze response as a dependent measure.  Laboratory exercises will be performed using an automated video motion analysis system, and this type of system will be compared/contrasted to freeze scores obtained by human observation.  Special attention will be paid to activity and shock reactivity, training, testing, extinction, and context discrimination.  The course will be taught by Dr. Stephan Anagnostaras from UCSD, a recognized authority in murine fear conditioning.  Register early, as class size is limited.

Introduction to the Novel K-Limbic Software System for Behavioral Experimentation Control Course Date – July 24, 2007 Cost - FREE! This course is a free workshop developed to expose interested scientists to a new software product, K-Limbic, available to control behavioral research experiments using the classic Med Associates interface system. K-Limbic software is an alternative to MED PC ®, and it requires no programming on the part of the user. This workshop will be conducted by the developer of this innovative software product, Dave Fuller. Register early, as space is limited.

Running Basic MED-PC Programs: An Introduction to MEDLAB® 8 Course Date – July 25, 2007 Cost - FREE! This course is a free workshop geared to introduce the novice MED PC user, or potential user, to running basic behavioral test protocols using our powerful and flexible MED PC Research Control and Data Acquisition software. Software and equipment installation will be covered. This course will be taught by Dr. Steve Dworkin from The University of North Carolina—Wilmington. Course enrollment is limited, so sign up early to ensure your spot.

An Introduction to Behavioral Research Protocol Programming: Getting Started with MED PC Course Date - July 26, 2007 Cost - $250 Learn the basics of writing MED State Notation programs to control your behavioral experiments. Instruction will be provided by following the exercises in the MED PC Programmer’s Guide. If you already have worked on your own MED State Notation programs, be prepared to bring examples of them, or bring the details of your behavioral experiments. This will allow you to practice using your own protocols and procedures. This course will be taught by Dr. Steve Dworkin from The University of North Carolina—Wilmington. Course enrollment is limited, so sign up early to ensure your spot.

An Introduction to Self-Administration Course Date - July 27, 2007 Cost - $250 Gain a basic understanding of the field of drug self-administration as a research tool to study drugs of abuse and mechanisms of learning. This course will present theoretical concepts and will also provide a technical overview of the laboratory equipment necessary to perform self-administration studies. The course will be taught by Dr. Steve Dworkin from The University of North Carolina—Wilmington, an expert in rodent self-administration.

 

Med Associates Launces New User Discussion Forum: Researcher’s Round Table

We frequently receive questions from researchers regarding the use of our behavioral research equipment in specific experimental conditions.

For example, a scientist may want to know of other researchers who have used a certain dependent measure in their analyses. Often times, we are able to help by providing contact names for other scientists doing similar lines of research. In order to facilitate researcher-to-researcher dialogue and discussion regarding the use of Med Associates Behavioral Research equipment, we are pleased to announce the launching of our new user discussion forum, dubbed “Researcher’s Round Table”. This site is available at: http://www.med-associates.com/forums/

In the Researcher’s Round Table, scientists from all over the world can share ideas and experiences related to the use of Med Associates equipment. Discussions will be moderated by staff from Med Associates, and where applicable, our staff will comment and respond to specific points. We are looking forward to lots of activity on this site. Please register on the site and make frequent visits.

We hope you enjoy the first issue of MedLines, and that you keep reading each issue. Please feel free to contact me if you have any suggestions regarding the content or format of our e-newsletter.

Sincerely,

Gerry Herrera, Ph.D.
Vice President of Research and Development, Med Associates, Inc.
President, Catamount Research & Development, Inc.