Research at Fox Chase »Research Facilities »Animal Research

Harry Rozmiarek, DVM, PhD Director Anthony Lerro, BS, LATG Microbiologist Assistant Director Deborah E O'Connor, BS, LAT Facility Manager Annmarie T. Pimble, AA Administrative Coordinator

Reimann Building, Room R271 215-728-3623 215-728-2539 215-728-5387 Debbie.OConnor@fccc.edu Anthony.Lerro@fccc.edu Annmarie.Pimble@fccc.edu

Function

The Laboratory Animal Husbandry Facility provides all basic husbandry as well as technical support services to the Fox Chase research community. The facility maintains centralized foundation breeding colonies, supported by the Core Grant, and production colonies of selected strains of mice for use by all Fox Chase investigators.

Description

The centralized Laboratory Animal Husbandry Facility consists of two animal facilities located on the Center campus. The Research Animal Facility contains animal space distributed over three floors. The first floor is devoted to support services, e.g., cage washing, while the remaining two floors are used to house research animals.

The second floor of this building and the second floor of the adjoining barrier building contain the SPF Research Barrier Facility containing a total of 23 animal rooms. All immunodeficient, transgenic, and most other lines of mice involved in research protocols are housed, using microisolator and ventilated caging technology, in this barrier facility. Animals entering the Research Barrier come from either the SPF Breeding Barrier or are rederived, by cesarean section or embryo transfer, from animals in quarantine. All caging and other materials are transported from the first floor cage washing area to the second floor, autoclaved directly on the transport racks and used within the barrier animal rooms. The third floor of the animal husbandry facility contains conventionally housed mice, rats, rabbits and frogs. The basement of the facility contains a suite of rooms for housing woodchucks and Pekin ducks.

The first floor of the adjoining barrier building is used solely for breeding specific pathogen free inbred mice required by Fox Chase investigators. Access to the facility is strictly limited to LAR staff. The second floor of the barrier building is part of the adjoining SPF Research Barrier.