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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Dear <i>Xenopus</i> Community,</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We are reaching out to ask for your participation in a brief survey on health monitoring and pathogen testing practices in <i>Xenopus </i>research
colonies. The survey should take no more than <b>10 minutes to complete</b> and your input will make a meaningful difference for our community.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The idea for this survey began when we realized that new <i>Xenopus</i> PIs have struggled with starting their colonies in institutions that have
little or no experience working with <i>Xenopus</i>. We then discovered that </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">there is currently no community-wide consensus on best practices for pathogen surveillance and health monitoring.
This lack of standardization creates real challenges: labs are often uncertain how to develop SOPs, how to interpret positive test results, or how to work with veterinary staff when making critical decisions about colony health.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">To address this, we have developed a short survey that asks about your lab’s current practices, including:</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:
Arial">●<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Whether
your institution performs routine health monitoring of resident and/or quarantine animals, and which diagnostic methods are used (PCR, culture, fecal analysis, necropsy, etc.)</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:
Arial">●<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Which
pathogens your colony has tested positive for, including <i>Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis</i>, <i>Mycobacterium</i>spp., <i>Aeromonas hydrophila</i>, <i>Pseudocapillaroides xenopi</i>, ranavirus, and others</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:
Arial">●<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">How
positive results were handled — including changes to quarantine practices, treatments, decontamination, and outcomes</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:
Arial">●<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Estimated
annual colony mortality rates</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 8pt; margin-bottom: 8pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We hope to discuss the results of this survey in person at the XRET (Xenopus Resources and Emerging Technologies) meeting in October.
We plan to share the results of this discussion with the rest of the Xenopus community later in the year and eventually publish these results. We hope that this publication will give <i>Xenopus</i> researchers a citable resource to support their SOPs and inform
conversations with their veterinary and IACUC teams.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The survey is anonymous. Please follow this link to participate:</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8pt;"><a href="https://redcap.vumc.org/surveys/?s=37KTFH38FCXMCWDY"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">https://redcap.vumc.org/surveys/?s=37KTFH38FCXMCWDY</span></b></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Please respond by <b>October 1, 2026</b>. We encourage participation from all labs that work with <i>Xenopus</i>, regardless of the size of your
colony or whether you currently have a formal health monitoring program in place — responses from labs that do not perform testing are equally valuable. Please also feel free to share this survey with colleagues who maintain <i>Xenopus</i> colonies.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thank you in advance for your time and for helping us strengthen our community’s practices. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to
reach out to us directly.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Best regards,</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Coral Zhou, PhD</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Assistant Professor, University of Kansas Lawrence</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Michael McKinney, DVM, DACLAM</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Clinical Veterinarian and Assistant Professor, Vanderbilt University</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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