Our facility at BIC Bizkaia in BSTP is an integrated space of 200 m2 with a general purpose laboratory, an office, an area of logistical support and a restricted-access BSL2-3 animal facility designed ad hoc for housing and handling highly immunodeficient humanized mice.
They are state-of-the-art animal facilities aiming at optimal cost-effectiveness by minimizing fixed cost (only disposable sterilized material in contact with animals, easy cleaning surfaces, elimination of non-essential infrastructures) and implementing biosafety measures adapted to the actual biological risks (in/out HEPA- filtered air, temperature control, programmable day/night cycle, negative pressure in the facility, positive pressure in animal housing rooms, animal housing in ventilated racks, chemical inactivation of effluents, outsourcing of sterilization procedures).
Under this paradigm we obtained maximal protection of immunodeficient mice and comfort for technicians operating in the facility. This is achieved by co-localization of the animal facility with the analytical laboratories.
CONTACT… us to get more info on the many options available to set up temporary project-focused experimental operative units!!!. You’ll be positively surprised…!!!
In vivo research
The Art of Discovery has joined the Agreement on Openness on Animal Research, promoted from the Federation of Scientific Societies in Spain (COSCE), with the collaboration of the European Association of Research Animals (EARA), and launched on 20 September 2016.
See the Institutional Statement on the Use of Research Animals
The Art of Discovery has joined the Agreement on Openness on Animal Research, promoted from the Federation of Scientific Societies in Spain (COSCE), with the collaboration of the European Association of Research Animals (EARA), and launched on 20 September 2016.
We are convinced that animal experimentation plays a fundamental role in the discovery of the underlying biological mechanisms of disease, and in the development of medical treatments. Without research in animals, we would not have most of the medicines, antibiotics, vaccines and surgical techniques available nowadays in human and veterinary medicine.
An important part of the research undertaken at The Art of Discovery aims at contributing to the improvement of human health and wellbeing and is carried out thanks to the use of animals, for example in malaria and cancer drug discovery.
The welfare of animals used for research purposes is of paramount relevance for The Art of Discovery, as well as the strict compliance and respect to the current legislation on the protection of animals used in research and for other scientific purposes, including education. Our aim is to achieve the highest standards in animal welfare, not only from the point of view of our moral responsibility on them, but also because we are convinced that we could not achieve research excellence without proper animal welfare. Our experiments with animals follow the legal standards and are assessed by an Ethics Committee on Animal Experimentation that promotes the use of alternative methods, the reduction in the number of animals used and the refinement in the experimental protocols applied. Not a single research project requiring the use of animals could start without the appropriate and required Ethics assessment and the eventual authorization from the competent authorities.
The Art of Discovery also ensures that the personnel involved in animal care and researchers do have the adequate education and training and the required professional skills, and that all resources are provided to properly keep research animals in terms of facilities, husbandry, wellbeing and veterinary care.
In vivo models are essential tools to investigate biological phenomena and the properties of new medicines. These models provide complex systems in which all the factors (biophysical, physiological, toxicological, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic) that affect the therapeutic efficacy of drugs are playing a role at the same time. We work in in vivo research because we seek the complexity of living multicellular mammalians, which cannot be addressed by alternative methods nowadays.
TAD approaches in vivo research upon three basic principles, namely, a) we are committed to strict compliance of the European and International legislation on animal experimentation, b) we prioritize animal welfare over any other consideration, and c) we actively seek replacement of in vivo models with alternative methods, reduction of the numbers of mice used and refinement of the procedures and analysis performed in mice.
Compliance: Our experimental procedures are reviewed, discussed and approved by the TAD Ethics Committee (TAD CEEA), an external independent committee and the competent national authorities (Dept. Sostenibilidad y Medio Natural, Biscay County Government, Basque Country, Spain). In addition, we are implementing continuous improvement quality policies to be accredited by international organizations.
Animal welfare: In our experience, animal welfare is the cornerstone of the highest quality in in vivo research.
Firstly, we designed our animal facilities to maximize the protection of mice against infection by environmental agents (in/out HEPA-filtered air) and provide the mice with isolated housing space with controlled low noise, airflow, temperature and 12-h day /night cycles.
Secondly, to minimize stress in mice, all experimental procedures are performed in procedure rooms different from the housing rooms by accredited personnel trained in the specific techniques employed.
Thirdly, programs of environmental enrichment in housing are being implemented in order to enhance the environmental stimuli and minimize stress in animals.
Replacement, Reduction and Refinement: We aim at using the bare minimum number of mice necessary to understand the therapeutic effect of drugs. We achieve optimal results by using innovative adaptive experimental designs and statistical techniques employed in human clinical trials. In our studies mice are individuals in which we perform intensive studies to understand the effect of therapy. All what we learn in animal research is used to develop new tools that may eventually replace animal models.
This is a more powerful approach to test therapies, a more ethical use of research animals… and a much more economical approach than traditional experimental designs. Let us show you why…!!!
By conviction, we are committed to ethical treatment of animals.
By experience, we know it is the way to obtain meaningful results.
