The primary function of Animal Research Facility (ARF) is to
assist investigators in their obligation to plan and conduct
animal experiments in accord with the highest scientific, humane
and ethical principles. This is achieved by development and
maintenance of a comprehensive, high quality animal care program,
complies with all guidelines and laws concerning with experiments
on animals.
The Animal Research Facility contains animal
space distributed over 9 rooms which include breeding rooms,
experimental rooms, procedure rooms and transgenic rooms. All
immunedeficient, transgenic, and other valuable lines of mice are
housed in the transgenic rooms, using Individually Ventilated
Caging (IVC) system. We have two dedicated rooms for this purpose
and each room has got its own IVC system and animal changing
station. Entries to these rooms are restricted and an air shower
is used to blow off excess dust particles from personnel entering
to this area. Dedicated lab coats and protective wearing such as
face masks, caps and gloves are provided to all animal users
before entering into animal and procedure rooms. Biometric Access
System is installed to restrict the unnecessary traffic inside
the animal research facility and 4 surveillance cameras are fixed
at various locations to monitor the activities inside Animal
Research Facility.
Laboratory animals are very sensitive
to their living conditions, so it's important that they are
housed in proper conditions. The building, cages and environment
of animal rooms are major factor which affect the quality of
animals. We have got separate rooms for each species of animals
which are maintained at controlled heat and humidity. Bedding
material is used after autoclaving and removed periodically to
maintain the micro environment within the cages. Cages are washed
and autoclaved regularly to ensure the cleanliness and health of
animals. Apart from these all animal rooms are cleaned daily to
maintain the overall hygiene. A 14:10 hour light-dark cycle is
maintained with automatic timers for better breeding performance.
Apart from this, the facility has got a dedicated washing area,
feed and cage storage rooms, autoclave room and changing rooms.
Two corridor systems with clean and dirty corridors are
maintained in the facility. Procedure room is equipped with class
II level Biosafety cabinet, Isoflurane inhalant anesthesia
machine, Small animal ventilator, Non-invasive blood pressure
monitoring apparatus, ECG machine etc.
Institute has
constituted an Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) to
approve and monitor animal experiments which help to ensure that
the existing CPCSEA rules and regulations are strictly followed
at every point of animal experiments. Request for animals,
procedures on animals and protocols are discussed and approved by
IAEC after considering the ethical issues and ensuring the
welfare of animals.
We also maintain a local intranet facility for ARF
activities where users can login and indent animals, check the
animal usage and can submit new proposals and request to IAEC.
Click here to access ARF Local Intranet
For further help & support contact us at
+91 - 471 - 2529573 (Veterinarian)