BIOEMTECH Animal Facility is a registered user establishment (EL25BIOexp045) for mice and rats, according to national legislation (PD 56/2013) which adopts European Directive 63/2010/EU. Hence, the Project Evaluation Committee approves all protocol applications before authorization by the competent veterinary authority, and the Animal Welfare Body supervises and consults on animal use and welfare. Our designated veterinarian and personnel trained for functions ABCD, undertake animal care and use.

At BIOEMTECH we highly value the principle of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement (3Rs) and strive to apply the most refined care and use biomethodology for our mice and rats. We appreciate the contribution of animal research to the progress of biomedical science. We recognize the importance of tending to animal welfare in order to produce valid results and comply to ethical and legal standards. We are members of HSBLAS / FELASA and EARA, follow international guidelines and updates, and support openness. Our designated veterinarian supervises all animal procedures and is available to immediately consult shall welfare issues arise. Our animal technologist checks every animal at least once per day. We organize detailed animal welfare monitoring of our projects in order to ensure minimum severity and fast application of human endpoints. For more details watch our videos and don’t hesitate to contact us for more information!

The Animal Facility includes the Mice room, the Rats room, the Procedures room and closely collaborates with the Imaging Laboratory. Workflows are performed under BSL2 requirements, animal use is performed under ABSL1+ requirements (BMBL Manual, 6^th ed.). Rats are housed in conventional open-top or filter-top caging while mice in individually ventilated caging, and all are handled in designated room areas which are disinfected after each use. Surgical procedures are performed under aseptic conditions. Waste disposal is performed according to legislation for hazardous biomedical waste.

Relative Services

• Protocol authorization according to national legislation
• Project design and reporting according to ARRIVE Guidelines
• Project organization and implementation, data collection, according to GLP
• Animal procurement from registered local or international breeders (Jackson Laboratories, Charles River, Taconic, NCSR Democritus, BSRC Al.Fleming, Hellenic Pasteur Institute)
• Ordering of specialized diets, consumables and equipment from collaborating suppliers (AnaLab Greece)
• Consultation on animal use procedures selection to fit project needs and comply to the principle of 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement)
• Selection of humane endpoints, compilation of welfare/daily monitoring sheets, welfare monitoring and application of humane endpoints according to project plan.
• Model set-up, including subcutaneous or orthotropic tumour inoculation and relative measurements
• CRO services for preclinical studies (see link)
• Substance administration (intravenous, retroorbital, intraperitoneal, intramuscular, subcutaneous, orogastric, oral, in food/water, in treats,  intratracheal, topical)
• Blood collection (survival: facial vein, tail vein, terminal: cauda vena cava, abdominal aorta, heart)
• Urine collection (survival: free flow, terminal: bladder)
• Blood and urine sample analysis (shipment to collaborating lab)
• Anesthesia (inhalation with isoflurane via mask or intubation, injectable with ketamine/medetomidine, with provision of oxygen, heat and monitoring)
• Analgesia (buprenorphine, carprofen, subcutaneous or in treats, local)
• Surgery (model set-up, aseptic procedures, macro & microsurgical instruments)
• Post-operative care
• Imaging in BIOEMTECH laboratories (x-ray, SPECT, PET, CT, optical) or collaborating facilities (ultrasound, MRI)
• Organ collection
• Preparation of organ samples for histology (shipment to collaborating lab for paraffin embedding, sectioning and staining)
• Sample shipment to any selected laboratories
• Training on animal procedures, organization of courses.

Animal Facility Equipment

• “SmartFlow” IVC unit with 1285L NEXT H-Temp cages (530cm² – groups of 2-6 mice), Techniplast Italy
• 2154F Filter-top cages (940cm2/21cm – groups of 2-3 rats) (Techniplast)
• 1354G High lid cages (1820cm2/27cm – groups of 4-6 rats) (Techniplast)
• Scales (2 & 3 decimals)
• Electronic Calipers
• Mouse tunnels
• Infrared heat lamp
• Heat pads
• SomnoSuite Low-Flow Digital Vaporizer (Kent Scientific)
• RoVent Automatic Ventilator (Kent Scientific)
• MouseSTAT Monitor (SpO2, HR, T) (Kent Scientific)
• Minerve monitoring acquisition module V03 (ECG, HR, RR, T)
• SurgiSuite Multi-Functional Surgical Platform with Lighting and Magnification, Warming, and Intubation
• Recovery cage with O2 and heatpad
• Surgical and Microsurgical instruments
• Hotbead and UV sterilisers