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Animal Care Facility (ACF)
ACF building is located to south-west side of the main research block, the total built in area is 9016 sq.ft with 15 animal rooms. All the animal rooms are supplied with 0.3 micron HEPA filtered once through air-conditioning, centralized power supply with round the clock DG backup and lighting of 14/10 light-dark cycle.
The facility has been registered for breeding of and experiments on animals under the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India.
Mission
ACF is dedicated in providing healthy laboratory animals and assisting the principal investigators in more humane and ethical usage of animals for their research pursuits while maintaining animal colonies in complete compliance with the CPCSEA and in-house animal care principles, rules, regulations and guidelines.
Management
The two in-house regulatory bodies, governing the use of animals at the centre; Internal Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC).
IACUC is an internal administrative body for ensuring the smooth day to day running of ACF and formulating in-house guidelines for humane care and responsible use of animals. Faculty members of the IACUC and their responsibilities are as follows:
- Prof. S. Chattarji, Chairman (special requirements)
- Prof. U. S. Bhalla (physical infrastructure)
- Prof. M.M. Panicker (liason)
- Prof. A. Sarin (breeding and records)
IAEC reviews all the research proposals involving the use of live vertebrate animals other than non-human primates ensuring that the famous Russell and Burch’s three ‘R’s concept – Refinement, Reduction and Replacement is invoked in all the projects for better and more humane science. IAEC comprise of the following members:
- Prof. M. K. Mathew (chairman).
- Prof. S.Chattarji.
- Prof. U. S. Bhalla.
- Prof. M.M. Panicker.
- Prof. N. Sowdhamini.
- Mrs. Alpana Bhartiya, Govt. of India nominee.
- Dr. C. Renukaprasad, Director, Instt Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals.
- Dr. S. N. Gananath, Director, SUVIDYA.
- Dr. G.H. Mohan, secretary and veterinarian in-charge of the facility.
Available facilities
Animal species – rats, mice and xenopus laevis
Equipments – Inhalational anesthesia machine, animal identification set, animal restrainers, Individually ventilated caging system, isolators, animal weighing balance, filter top and metabolic cages, incubator, biosafety hood, refrigerator, deep freezer, autoclave and incinerator.
Personnel – veterinary assistance and animal care technicians help.
Services
- Importing, breeding and maintenance of the required animals as per CPCSEA standards.
- Animal Husbandry, including animal daily care like feeding, watering and maintaining a clean cage environment.
- Veterinary care; daily health surveillance of animals as well as routine, periodic testing for common diseases.
- Providing clean and sterilized cages, racks, feed, water, cage cards and other essential instruments.
- Orientation and training of all the animal users in humane handling of the animals
- Assisting users in animal handling, restraining, identification techniques, dosing, injections, anesthesia, analgesia, sample collection and surgery.
- Carcass disposal by incineration (non-radioactive only).
- Organizing IACUC (as and when required) and IAEC meetings twice a year.
- Record keeping as per CPCSEA formats.
In-house gudelines
- All the animal facility users should undergo orientation and training in proper handling of animals.
- Animal work can begin only after the IAEC approval of the research project.
- The approved protocol should be strictly followed; any modification in the protocol should be cleared by the IAEC.
- Only authorized people are allowed to enter the animal block with all the protective clothing - apron, cap, facemask and designated sandals.
- Experiments should be performed with due care and humanity.
- All the animal users should follow Russell and Burch’s 3 ‘R’s concept;
Refinement – minimize pain and suffering – use appropriate anesthetics and analgesics.
Reduction – use fewer animals without compromising scientific output,quality of research and animal welfare.
Replacement – use non-sentient materials which replace the use of conscious living vertebrate animals completely or partially or relatively.
The Veterinarian should be kept informed of animal use plans, especially animal orders and breeding requirements, well in advance.
Animal Facility in-charge: Dr.G. H. Mohan