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. Core F centralizes all 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 magnetic card locks and contains 4 animal housing rooms, 2 routine procedure rooms for rodents, one surgical suite for higher mammals including non-human primates, a cash wash center, and support facilities. 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 and supervising investigators in animal surgical procedures, post-operative veterinary care, and harvest procedures. Husbandry services and environmental and pathogen monitoring are also provided. In addition, the core maintains all supplies for surgical procedures, insures that all work surfaces are cleansed before and after use, 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. Neil Lipman, VMD, the Core Director, possess extensive experience in animal resource program management, including the design and operation of rodent barrier facilities and animal biosafety programs employing viral vectors for gene delivery, insuring that investigators are provided with the highest quality animal resource facility and program in support of their research. Dr. Lipman is responsible for developing and implementing animal health and environmental programs. Ravi Singh, BA, the Core Assistant Director, provides hands-on support for investigators wishing to conduct gene therapy studies involving animals.
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