Animal Facilities

ICVS / Resources & Facilities

The animal facilities of ICVS includes infrastructures prepared for the maintenance of rodents and large animals used for scientific purposes.

The facilities for rodents include an acclimatization quarantine, a clean zone and animal biosafety laboratories levels 2 and 3. The rodents’ clean zone area encompasses housing rooms and several smaller experimental rooms serving many projects in research fields such immunology, cell signalling, neurosciences, oncology and infectious diseases studies; development and characterization of vaccines and innovative devices for the detection of infectious agents; and animal behaviour and welfare studies, among others.

The facility for large animals accommodates adjustable pens, mostly used for housing pigs for relatively short periods after experimental surgery, as well as a preparation room to prepare the animals for surgical procedures. This facility supports mainly surgical sciences research projects developing minimal invasive surgical and endoscopic technologies, and of medical devices, inside a highly specialised surgical operating theatre of ICVS.

A specialized team is involved in the maintenance and welfare of animals providing technical and veterinary support according to each model’s needs. The Laboratory Animal Science specialists of the Animal Facility Unit are also involved in the education and training of researchers, preparing them to perform procedures on animals, and in the evaluation of research projects involving animal models. All these activities focus on the application of the 3R’s (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement) and on building a culture of care.

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