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ALN® Magazine and TurnKey Award sponsor, Tecniplast, announced the winners of the 2008 TurnKey Award winners at a luncheon held April 17, 2008 at the TurnKey Conference in Baltimore, MD. Karen Gourlay, Assistant Director of the Central Animal Facility (CAF) at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada was named the 2008 TurnKey Facility Leader of the Year and the Toronto Centre for Phenogenomics (TCP) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada was named Facility of the Year.
Facility Leader of the Year
Karen Gourlay, Assistant Director of the Central Animal Facility (CAF) at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada was named the 2008 TurnKey Facility Leader of the Year. The Facility Leader of the Year Award recognizes a laboratory animal professional who exhibits outstanding leadership and promotes the highest standards in the care and use of laboratory animals.
Karen Gourlay has been with CAF for over 25 years, beginning as an Animal Health Technician. She quickly moved into supervisory and management positions, where not only her technical skills, but her natural ability to lead and motivate could be put to good use. In 1994, Karen became Facility Manager where she was able to use her acute understanding of the infrastructure and operations of the facility and its satellites, as well as regulatory requirements. Karen worked to centralize services, introduce Standard Operating Procedures, implemented the workwell initiative to ensure safety for all workers at all sites, became a resource for the Animal Research Ethics Board, and as well as the on-site expert in the design and development of new facilities. All the while, Karen maintained her leadership position in mentoring and training staff to follow in her footsteps.
In 2004, Karen was promoted to Assistant Director. She currently oversees 11 facilities, including two managers, 35 technical staff, five support staff, and five administrative staff.
A strong proponent of education, Karen has completed her BSc, RMLAT, a Certified Manager diploma through LAMA, and encourages and mentors all staff to complete various forms of education and training. She is an active member of CALAS, currently serving on the National Board of Directors and has served on the Canadian Council on Animal Care. For each of the past number of years, at least one person from her staff has presented a paper, poster, or workshop at CALAS, with her assistance and support.
In the past, Karen has been awarded the Lab Products Speaker of the Year award and LAMA Scholarship. In 2004, Karen was the recipient of the Charles River Award for outstanding contributions in the field of lab animal science medicine.
Karen is the mother of four boys and runs a hobby farm in her spare time. Congratulations to Karen.
Facility of the Year
The Facility of the Year Award was bestowed on the Toronto Centre for Phenogenomics (TCP) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Facility of the Year Award recognizes outstanding achievements in the design/build of a new or renovated laboratory animal facility. The award is intended to showcase new ideas and accomplishments in facility design, construction, and operation.
The TCP, a 120,000 square foot laboratory and vivarium is an unprecedented collaboration of four research hospitals – Mount Sinai Hospital, St. Michael’s Hospital, The Hospital for Sick Children, and University Health Network which functions as a regional, national, and international resource for mouse models of human disease.
Consolidation of these research facilities provides cost-effective, shared resources for scientific collaboration, an accessible library of accumulated knowledge, and a venue to create mouse models that will benefit medicine as a whole.
The building is a stand alone structure within walking distance of each participating organization. Complementing the urban context of Toronto, the modern style of the center blends into the city’s backdrop.
The building was designed to be cost-effective and secure with areas for collaboration, teaching facilities, and flexible space to address future needs. A tightly constrained urban site, underground utilities, rigid zoning restrictions, and plans for future vertical expansion all drove the requirement for an innovative design. Sixty percent of the floor plan is underground. The master plan is for a 300,000 square foot, 15-story tower to be built above the TCP.
The 36,000 cage animal facility is arranged over two levels beneath grade. The facility accommodates five categories of animal housing bio-exclusion or bio-containment with special design features to protect the health of such a large number of mice. State-of-the-art equipment, including high density cage and rack systems, automated watering and cage washing systems, and automated bedding disposal and dispensing systems are an integral part of the TCP. Automation allows for increased reliability and helped to alleviate ergonomic issues.
The facility, which took four years to complete at a cost of $45,700,000, was designed by Lead Architect, G+G Partnership Architects; programming and lab/vivarium planning was by Flad Architects; Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Engineers was LKM and Partners, Inc.; Halsall Associates Limited was the Structural Engineer; and Construction Manager and Contractor was EllisDon Construction Management. Paul Tranquada, from the TCP was Project Manager.
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