The Center for Preclinical Research Services
The use of animals in biomedical research saved prolonged and improved the quality of life of millions of people and animals. Without the use of animals in research we could not enjoy the benefit of most of the medical treatments and devices witch our health care provider offers. Among these are orthopedic surgeries, organ implants, neonatal care, assisted reproduction, oncology treatments, vaccines, diabetes care, dialysis and more…
In Ben Gurion University (BGU) animal models are replaced with tissue cultures, computer simulations, human tissues and human studies. In some instances the use of animal models is the only possible way to answer scientific questions and to find cure or relief for severe and complex medical problems. In these instances we use the minimal number of animals needed for the study and refine the experimental methods to minimize pain and suffering by the animals. Refinement methods include prevention of infectious diseases, environmental enrichment, the use of anesthesia and analgesia and defining clear humane endpoint criteria for the experiments.
Animal welfare assurance
BGU's animal care and use program is supervised and fully assured by the Israeli Council for Animal Experimentation of the Ministry of Health. It is operated according to Israel's Animal Welfare Act 1994 and follows the Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (NRC 2011). In addition, BGU is assured by the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, USA (OWLA) #A5060-01, and fully accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC).
BGU has state of the art, modern animal facilities for rodents and large animal species. The animals are kept in controlled environment (illumination, temperature and humidity) and free of specific pathogens as described bellow. The enclosure size meets the physiological and behavioral and social needs of each species. The facilities are equipped with advanced medical equipment for anesthesia, surgeries, metabolic assessment, irradiation, and imaging.
Housing of rodents:
Specific pathogen free rodents are housed in 2 main facilities of 1200sqm. In the facilities there are 3 mouse rooms, 2 rat rooms, and 2 mixed rooms (quarantine and infectious disease suite). Additionally there are 5 procedure rooms and 8 behavioral assessment rooms with research supporting equipment such as imaging facility, irradiator, anesthesia machines, centrifuge, biosafety cabinets and metabolic cages. Separate logistics wards serve for washing and decontamination of all supplies.
Rodent care practices are under sterile conditions, with sterile supplies. Rodents Hosing conditions are: 12:12 light:dark cycles at 20-24°C and 30–70% relative humidity. Animals are free fed autoclaved rodent chow and have free access to reverse osmosis filtered water. Rodents are housed in individually ventilated cages.
Housing of large animals:
Large animal facility is of 700m2 for rabbits (up to 100 rabbits), guinea pigs (up to 200), and pigs (20-80) with automatic watering system. In the facility are separate procedure rooms and operating suite. The operating suite is equipped with anesthesia machine (including respirator), vital signs monitor, two heated operation stations with appropriate lighting and autoclave.
Veterinary בare
Veterinary care is available seven days a week, from the attending veterinarian (Diplomate, ACLAM and Israeli Laboratory Animal Specialist), a resident veterinarian and animal care staff. All personnel are trained for animal husbandry and report any signs of ill health to the veterinarians.
Quality assurance program at BGU
Animal colonies are tested routinely for known pathogens, according to list of Federation European Laboratory Animal Science Association (FELASA).
