The Experimental Animal Core has been established to address the unique issues associated with gene therapy studies involving animals. The use of high titers of potentially infectious agents as gene transfer vectors in animal models requires that both the investigative and animal husbandry stuff have access to specialized knowledge and equipment in order to safely and effectively conduct research. The Experimental Animal Core functions as a resource to provide centralized expert services in the design and implementation of gene therapy studies involving experimental animals in accordance with the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) guidelines. The Core centralizes experimental animal studies to a pathogen-free, strictly regulated facility from which animals are never removed for the duration of each study. The facility is secured by individually coded, magnetic card locks and contains 4 animal housing rooms, 2 fully equipped procedure rooms for rodents, one surgical suite for higher mammals, a cage wash center, and support facilities. The detailed knowledge and training of the Core staff with regard to experimental animal models for gene therapy greatly improve the ability of investigative staff to conduct research, freeing investigative staff to concentrate on the generation and analysis of experimental data, greatly enhancing the continuity and quality of the research. The Core provides expertise in a wide variety of animal related, gene transfer techniques as well as in depth knowledge of tissue and fluid harvest and analysis. The Core supports all aspects of gene therapy research involving animals including drafting of animal use protocols, training investigators, conducting animal surgical procedures, generating and breeding transgenic animals, post-operative veterinary care, and harvest procedures. In addition, the Core provides to investigators stocks of syringes, sutures, catheters, and other supplies necessary for surgical procedures, sees to the maintenance of all equipment in the facility, and monitors the Core facility to insure that all standard operating procedures for the use of the Core facility are followed. The Core provides written standard operating procedures (SOP) for all experimental procedures it supports.
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