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Build your knowledge and skill in Microbiology and Chemistry! AOAC is pleased to offer several new courses in microbiology and chemistry this year. We have made it easier for you to decide what course(s) you should attend!
Choose from the following courses: CHEMISTRY: NEW! Validation of Quantitative Chemical Test Methods NEW! Official Methods of AnalysisSM Program: Collaborative Study of Chemical Methods NEW! Performance Tested MethodsSM Program: Validation of Rapid Chemical Methods
NEW! Official Methods of AnalysisSM Program: Collaborative Study of Microbiological Methods NEW! Performance Tested MethodsSM Program: Validation of Rapid Microbiological Methods Quality Control Tools for Quality Assurance in Microbiology
Quality Assurance for Analytical Laboratories ISO/IEC 17025 Management Systems for the Laboratory
NEW! Two-Day Course Validation of Quantitative Chemical Test Methods Friday, September 11 and Saturday, September 12, 20098:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. each day Registration Fee: Who Should Attend: Analytical chemists and technicians, managers, and other advisory staff concerned with developing valid analytical methods and who seek a better understanding of the AOAC guidelines for single laboratory validation of those methods. What You Will Learn:
Proper in-house validation of a protocol (potential method) ensures that its technical performance and fitness for purposes can be objectively evaluated. To that end, this course provides an in-depth and comprehensive review of the AOAC guidelines and criteria for single laboratory (in-house) method validation for quantitative chemical methods. Participants will acquire the basic information and skills needed to optimize the probability that a given protocol can be in-house validated to the technical and practical standards required to meet AOAC’s criteria for methods approval.
Course Level: This is an intermediate level course. About the Instructor:
Sunday, September 13, 2009 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Registration Fee:AOAC Member: $450 Non-Member: $525 Who Should Attend: Bench scientists, laboratory managers, advisory staff, and others concerned with organizing and conducting full collaborative studies of quantitative chemical test methods that meet AOAC guidelines. What You Will Learn: Proper validation of a method ensures that its technical performance and fitness for purpose can be objectively evaluated. To that end, this course will provide study directors (and other stakeholders) with a comprehensive overview of the basic information and training required to optimize the probability that a single laboratory validated (SLV) method will undergo successful validation in a full collaborative study (i.e., be able to meet the technical and practical standards required in AOAC’s methods approval process).
Course Level: This is an intermediate level course and is suggested as a pre-requisite for study directors conducting collaborative studies of chemical methods. About the Instructor: NEW! Half-Day Course Performance Tested MethodsSM Program: Validation of Rapid Chemical Methods Saturday, September 12, 2009 1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Registration Fee: Who Should Attend: Method developers, contract laboratories, food manufacturing quality assurance personnel and AOAC methods experts are encouraged to attend. Attendance is required for those contract laboratories interested in qualifying as independent laboratories and those individuals interested in qualifying as expert reviewers for the AOAC Research Institute Tested MethodSM Program. What You Will Learn: The presentations will include an overview of the Performance Tested MethodsSMProgram, detailed information and suggestions for performing the laboratory work necessary for a validation study along with specifics and examples on the current recommended statistical analysis for the evaluation of chemical methods. This course will provide practical real-life examples of AOAC validation studies. All attendees will receive a “Certificate of Training”. Course Level:
This is an intermediate level course and is suggested as a pre-requisite to the training course named, “ This is an intermediate course and suggested as a pre-requisite course named, Official Methods of AnalysisSMProgram: Collaborative Study of Chemical Methods”. Maria Nelson has worked with the AOAC Research Institute since late Fall 2003 as a Technical Consultant coordinating microbiological method validation studies in the Performance Tested MethodsSM (PTM). She also serves as a Project Manager in the AOAC Official MethodsSM program. She has worked in the biotechnology industry developing a variety of test methods using a variety of techniques, and six years specifically developing and validating microbiological test kits. Maria earned her Bachelor’s degree in Bacteriology and her Master’s degree in Microbiology from the University of California, Davis. NEW! Half-Day Course Official Methods of AnalysisSM Program: Collaborative Study of Microbiological Methods 1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Registration Fee: Who Should Attend: Method developers, contract laboratories, food manufacturing quality assurance personnel and AOAC methods experts are encouraged to attend. What You Will Learn: The presentations will include an overview of the Official Methods of AnalysisSM program, detailed information and suggestions on performing the laboratory work necessary for an Official Methods of AnalysisSM validation study along with specifics and examples on the current recommended statistical analysis for microbiological methods. This course will provide practical real-life examples of AOAC validation studies. How to write documents in the Official Methods style will also be covered. Course Level: This is an intermediate level course. A suggested pre-requisite course is the “Performance Tested MethodsSM Program: Validation of Rapid Microbiological Methods”.
About the Instructors: Maria Nelson has worked with the AOAC Research Institute since late Fall 2003 as a Technical Consultant coordinating microbiological method validation studies in the Performance Tested MethodsSM (PTM). She also serves as a Project Manager in the AOAC Official MethodsSM program. She has worked in the biotechnology industry developing a variety of test methods using a variety of techniques, and six years specifically developing and validating microbiological test kits. Maria earned her Bachelor’s degree in Bacteriology and her Master’s degree in Microbiology from the University of California, Davis. Karen Silbernagel began working with the AOAC Research Institute since March 2005 as a Technical Consultant. Like Maria Nelson, Karen coordinates microbiological method validation studies in the Performance Tested MethodsSM (PTM) program. Formerly with rtech laboratories and University of Minnesota, Karen was awarded Study Director of the Year by AOAC in 2003 and she has served on AOAC task forces for Microbiology Statistics (chair) and the PTM / Official Methods of AnalysisSM (OMA) Task Force on Harmonization. Karen earned a microbiology from the University of Minnesota. Performance Tested MethodsSM Program: Validation of Rapid Microbiological Methods Sunday, September 13, 2009 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Registration Fee: What You Will Learn: The presentations will include an overview of the Performance Tested MethodsSM program, detailed information and suggestions for performing the laboratory work necessary for a validation study along with specifics and examples on the current recommended statistical analysis for the evaluation of microbiological methods. This course will provide practical real-life examples of AOAC validation studies. All attendees will receive a “Certificate of Training”. Course Level: This is an intermediate level course and is suggested as a pre-requisite to the training course named, “Official Methods of AnalysisSM Program: Collaborative Study of Microbiological Methods”. About the Instructors: Maria Nelson has worked with the AOAC Research Institute since late Fall 2003 as a Technical Consultant coordinating microbiological method validation studies in the Official MethodsSM program. She also serves as a Project Manager in the AOAC Official MethodsSMprogram. She has worked in the biotechnology industry developing a variety of test methods using a variety of techniques, and six years specifically developing and validating microbiological test kits. Maria earned her Bachelor’s degree in Bacteriology and her Master’s degree in Microbiology from the University of California, Davis. Karen Silbernagel began working with the AOAC Research Institute since March 2005 as a Technical Consultant. Like Maria Nelson, Karen coordinates microbiological method validation studies in the Performance Tested MethodsSM (PTM) program. Formerly with rtech laboratories and University of Minnesota, Karen was awarded Study Director of the Year by AOAC in 2003 and she has served on AOAC task forces for Microbiology Statistics (chair) and the PTM/Official Methods of AnalysisSM (OMA) Task Force on Harmonization. Karen earned a B.A. in biology from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and an M.S. in microbiology from the University of Minnesota. 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. each day Registration Fee: Who Should Attend: Anyone responsible for developing, implementing, supervising and/or complying with a quality assurance program in a laboratory engaged in microbiological analysis of food, water, and environmental-related samples. This interactive workshop is suitable for laboratory managers, supervisors and quality assurance coordinators. This course is of special interest to laboratories which are seeking accreditation to ISO/IEC Standard 17025:2005. What You Will Learn: An effective quality assurance (QA) plan can improve the efficiency, credibility, and quality of your laboratory’s work. Designed by AOAC especially for non-clinical microbiologists, this interactive course provides you with the tools you need to prepare and implement an effective and efficient QA plan. The course emphasizes practical applications of quality control to work within the context of QA and formal accreditation. The material is reinforced and clarified in three ways—by hands-on problem-solving in class, by opportunities to ask questions of the instructor, and by learning how your clasmates are handling QA in their laboratories. After taking this course you will be able to:
Course Level: This is a basic intermediate level course and is suggested as a companion to ISO/IEC 17025:2005. About the Instructors: Molly F. Mills is a Team Leader at Land O’Lakes, Inc. in Arden Hills, Minnesota. She has been with Land O'Lakes 10 years; serving in leadership roles for the microbiology group in the corporate analytical laboratory. Her previous work experience includes, Silliker Laboratories and Indiana Packers. Molly received her M.S. in Food Science from the University of Minnesota and B.S. in Microbiology from Purdue University. Land O'Lakes Analytical, which is also rtech laboratories, has been accredited to ISO 17025 since 2000. The microbiology department at rtech conducts analysis of food samples using reference and rapid methods. The department is also utilized extensively for project work, including AOAC-RI and OMA validation studies. 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. each day Registration Fee: Who Should Attend: Quality Assurance Officers, Laboratory Managers, Analytical Section Leaders, Laboratory Directors, Quality Control Chemists/Technicians, Quality Managers, and any chemistry laboratory personnel interested in improving or developing a laboratory quality system. What You Will Learn: Through lectures, exercises and discussion you will learn about the components of a quality system, how they interrelate with each other, procedures to implement this information into your laboratory to improve your current quality system and, if applicable, achieve accreditation or certification. How you can use analytical quality control data and statistics to reduce variation and improve the quality of data produced by the laboratory. The basics of statistical process control and control charting are presented and demonstrated. Analytical methods are a key factor in the overall plan for quality, and a variety of method validation techniques and levels of complexity are presented. The need for external and internal auditing, and how to address these issues, is covered in addition to the application of the results to the quality system. Documentation requirements are presented through a series of examples along with record-keeping needs. The components of a laboratory quality manual and their application are demonstrated. Course Level: This is an intermediate level course. About the Instructors Jerry Hirsch is Director of JH TechRight Consulting. Jerry retired in 2001 from his position as Associate Director of the Burnaby Laboratory for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Vancouver, Canada. From 1997 to 2000 he was Laboratory Director of the Burnaby Food Safety Laboratory with CFIA, and prior to that he was Chief of the Food/Drug Laboratory Division for the Health Protection Branch (Health Canada) laboratory in Burnaby. He led the CFIA Burnaby Food Laboratory in its successful application to achieve ISO Guide 25 accreditation with the Standards Council of Canada in 1999. Jerry assisted in the integration of the Burnaby Food and Burnaby Fish Laboratories, and led the scope expansion accreditation activities to ISO 17025 in 2001. Jerry’s CFIA laboratory developed a basic EMS program in 2000 as part of a national ISO 14000 self-assesment exercise. Jerry has been an active member of AOAC for a number of years, serving as Chair of the Laboratory Quality Assurance Committee, Chair of the Committee on Sections, and as an officer of the Pacific Northwest Section. He has been an instructor for the “Quality Assurance for Analytical Laboratories” course for more than 10 years.
8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. each day Registration Fee: Who Should Attend: ISO/IEC 17025 addresses every element of laboratory management. It is important to but not exclusive to the laboratory manager, assistant laboratory manager, or quality manager. Implementation of the standard involves all laboratory staff whose functions relate to the quality of laboratory data generated, and as such, all laboratory staff will benefit from this course. The course is essential, but not limited to, anyone in a laboratory management position. The emphasis is on laboratory management from the bench level to the front office. What You Will Learn: The ISO management system will provide a defined, ordered process for operating all facets of a laboratory. The laboratory community throughout the world has expressed, through the International Organization for Standardization, the essential elements for a laboratory management system in the text of ISO/IEC 17025. That document provides the nucleus for most laboratory accreditation programs today. This three-day training course addresses the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025 in detail. Open forum discussion of the elements of the standard, the structure of the management system, and the system of documents required for meeting the standard are all addressed. After taking this course you will be able to:
Course Level: Intermediate/Advanced. A reading familiarity with ISO/IEC 17025 is recommended. Course Materials: The course book prepared for the participant includes as appendixes “as published” copies of ISO/IEC 17025: 2005, ISO 9000: 2000; ISO 19011:2002, ISO 10013:1995, and Preparation of Documents for ISO Management Systems. The book is intended to be a tool box for implementing a laboratory management system according to ISO/IEC 17025. About the Instructor: |
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