International Lab Animal Technician Week Staff Feature

This week is International Laboratory Animal Technician Week, and I want to take a moment to recognize two people whose work is absolutely central to everything we do in the Coombes Lab.

Aline Fiebig and Yeganeh Yousefi are our animal technicians, and their expertise, care, and professionalism underpin a huge amount of the science that happens both within our lab and through collaborations, and in training and mentoring members of my research team. 

Aline and Yeganeh have contributed to numerous studies aimed at advancing pre-clinical development of new antibiotics, antifungal therapies, and biomaterials for drug delivery in both the infectious disease and inflammatory bowel disease areas. Their work includes expert technical execution and deep knowledge of animal welfare, rigorous experimental practice, problem-solving on the fly, and an unwavering commitment to excellence. High-quality, ethical pre-clinical research simply does not happen without people like them, and I am deeply grateful for the work they do and proud to have them on #TeamCoombes. Their research has been published widely in Cell, Nature, Nature Microbiology, PLoS Pathogens, Cell Reports, ACS Applied Biomaterials, Gut, among others.

If you have animal care professionals in your own research environments, take a moment this week to tell them what their work means to you. Our science is better because of them.