Personnel

The Division of Medical Sciences research labs are made up of a wide variety of people.  Faculty, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students, research technicians and various undergraduate students and volunteers.

The Division provides two staff positions that support the activities of the research laboratories.  These positions are the Animal Research Technician and the Research Operations Coordinator.  The Animal Research Technician manages transgenic animal colonies and provides technical assitance to research groups.  The Research Operations Coordinator provides the following services to the research groups: coordinating CORE equipment maintenance and repair, human resource management, tracking expenses and lab supplies purchasing. 

Supervisors are asked to have new lab members fill out the New Lab Member Information Form and submit it to the Research Operations Coordinator so that they can be added to lab contact lists and be given information on required safety training. 

Click here for the most recent lab contact list.

Safety

The Division of Medical Sciences is committed to providing a safe laboratory environment by ensuring that faculty, students and staff are knowledgeable of potential hazards present in the laboratories and are aware of relevant UVic Occupational Health, Safety & Environment (OHSE) guidelines and emergency procedures.  Campus Security can be reached at 721-7599.  In the event of an evacuation, please exit the building using the stairwells and gather at the northwest corner of the lawn in front of the Medical Sciences Building.   

• General Lab Safety Procedures
• Biohazard Level II Procedures
• Safe Handling of Cryogenic Liquids
• Compressed Gases SOP
• Step by Step Compressed Gases
• UVic OHSE Orientation Handbook
• UVic Occupational Health and Safety Policy
• Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) Database
• Chemical Spill Response, spill kits are distributed throughout the labs and can be obtained free of charge from Science Stores (Petch 168).

OHSE provides many in-class and on-line training sessions related to both laboratory safety and general workplace safety.  WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) and Biosafety training are the minimum training required for all personnel working in MSB laboratories. 

All health and safety concerns or hazards must be reported to the supervisor.  Concerns may be reported using the Departmental Incident and Hazard Report form.  The supervisor is responsible for investigating the issue in a timely manner and taking appropriate corrective actions.  For more information on reporting hazards, please see the OHSE website. 

Environment

The Division of Medical Sciences aims at being environmentally responsible in the way our laboratories are run.  We make every effort to recycle as many materials as possible and to make use of the UVic Occupational Health, Safety & Environment's (OHSE) hazardous waste management system; ensuring that no hazardous materials are introduced into the sewers or regular garbage streams.  Labs must submit a Hazardous Waste Disposal Form on Wednesdays by 4pm for waste pick-up Thursdays.  Empty waste containers are provided free of charge except for sharps containers which can be purchased from Science Stores (Petch 168).

Please familiarize yourself with the Chemical Spill Response procedure.  Spill kits are distributed throughout the laboratories and can be obtained free of charge from Science Stores (Petch 168).  Campus Security (local 7599) is trained to deal with chemical spills so do not hesitate to contact them (7599) should one occur that is beyond your ability to handle. 

Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) provide information on the hazards, firefighting measures, accidental release measures, handling and storage, exposure controls/personal protection, physical and chemical properties, stability and reactivity, toxicological information, ecological information and disposal considerations for all chemicals in our laboratories.

Core Equipment

The Division of Medical Sciences provides and maintains a number of "CORE" pieces of equipment which are shared among the researchers and are a basic component of the research infrastructure provided to our researchers.  Routine preventative maintenance and repair of this equipment is performed by or coordinated by the DMSC Research Operations Coordinator.  Requests for additional CORE equipment items can be made using the DMSC Core Equipment Request Form.  Equipment disposal can be requested using the DMSC Equipment Disposal Request Form and in accordance with the UVic Purchasing Services Surplus Asset Disposal Guidelines.

Supplies

The Division of Medical Sciences has an agreement with the Faculty of Science that allows our Faculty to use the services of Science Stores (Petch 168).  

These services include...

• Access to items from the Science Stores in-house inventory of chemicals, equipment, stationery and Biobar items.   
• Ordering items that are not part of the Science Stores in-house inventory.
• Shipping

There is a centralized list of "items to be ordered" that is kept in the Research shared folder (Netdrive.uvic.ca/meds/Research/Shared/Purchasing/Master Order List.xlsx).  The DMSC Research Operations Coordinator will submit requisitions for these items to Science Stores at minimum every Wednesday.  This enables bundling of items from the same vendor to reduce shipping costs.  If you have rush items, please email the details (Vendor, Cat#, Item Description, Quantity) to the DMSC Research Operations Coordinator (ewiebe@uvic.ca) and a requisition will be submitted immediately to Science Stores.

Compressed gas cylinders can be obtained from the cylinder storage area at the back of the MSB building.  Please refer to the MSB Compresse Gas Cylinder procedure document.  The department provides all the necessary personal protective equipment.  OHSE offers a Compressed Gas training session that covers transport and handling of cylinders which is required for anyone who will be working with cylinders.  If the training session is not offered when you need it, please ask your fellow students; anyone who has taken the course can train others.

Computer hardware, software and accessories can be purchased through the Technology Solutions Centre.

UVic OHSE also maintains a central chemical inventory containing a comprehensive list of chemicals in all laboratories across campus.  The database is searchable, making it a great resource for borrowing chemicals; if you only need a small amount for one-time use and don't want to purchase a large quantity.  Please contact the DMSC Research Operations Coordinator for the generic user ID and password to view the database.  

Please contact the DMSC Research Operations Coordinator if you have questions about or require assistance with any of these purchasing procedures.

Tech Services

The Faculty of Science offers a variety of technical services that operate on a fee for service basis for the Division of Medical Sciences.  They can assist with services such as equipment repair, fabrication, electronics repair and glass blowing.

The Faculty of Science also has several instrument facilities that provide a variety of services to UVic researchers.