Introduction of Laboratory Animal Center, National Defense Medical Center (NDMCLAC)

History

     The animal center was founded in 1984, after years efforts by then dean (president) General Pan. Shu-Run. This center was comprised by two separate parts (buildings) located in old NDMC and TSGH respectively. The total area was around 1000 square meter. The first director is Dr. San-Chi Liang who was recruited in Sept. 1984, just after he got master degree from Department of Veterinary Medicine at National Taiwan University.

        In 1999，NDMCLAC moved to the new NDMC in Nei-Hu county, Taipei. The area was expanded to 4500 square meter，and become the largest and most functional and modernized laboratory animal center in our country. 

The total projects carried out in our center is about 120 cases annually. Principal investigators in either NDMC and TSGH have the privilege to use our center. The rodents maintained in the new building are mainly specific pathogen free (SPF) level, and medium to large animals including rabbits, pigs, dogs and non-human primate are conventionally maintained.

Allocations:

   The center is located under the basement of Main building of NDMC, which includes 9 functional areas with total area up to 4500 square meters：

(1)    SPF barrier area：for SPF mice

(2)    Clean conventional area：for rodents at clean conventional level

(3)    Conventional area：for rodents at conventional level

(4)    Larger animal area：for rabbits, dogs, guinea pig and non-human primate

(5)    Biohazard area：P2 level；for animal researches related to pathogens

(6)    Quarantine area：for quarantine of dogs and rodents

(7)    Administration area：for staff administration 

(8)    Surgery area：for surgery of animals

(9)    Preparation area: mainly for the cleaning and washing of cages and racks

Functions:

  The main functions of our center is as follows：

(1)   Providing good husbandry of frequently used laboratory animals for NDMC and TSGH, such as rodents, rabbits, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, pigs and monkeys.

(2)   Breeding special strains of mice, such as nude mice, transgenic and knock out/in mice.

(3)   Providing on biological and technological information related to laboratory animals to investigator.

(4)   Health monitor and disease diagnosis of laboratory animals.

(5)   Environmental monitor.

(6)   Consultation of laboratory animal technology.

Staffs:

   There are totally eleven official staffs in our center. The information of main staffs is depicted as follows

Animal researches:

 The total animal research projects carried out in our center reaches 116 cases in 2002。The funding agents and their supporting case number is as follows:

                                        Total : 116 projects
Animals
    A variety of animals are kept in our center, including rodents, rabbits, pigs, dogs and non-human primates。The total animal number is around 8000 herds as follows:

Quality Control

      Environmetal and Health monitors are the two key factors for animal quality control in our animal center. The requirement for these two factors in our center is as follows:

Environmental Control in Animal Center

Heath monitor for rodents

Future plans of our animal center

1.      Achieve AAALAC (Association of Assessment and Accreditation for Laboratory Animal Care, International) Accreditation in three years

2.      Develop cryopreservation technique for special strains

3.      Develop transgenic mice for investigators

4.      Establish P3 laboratory for biohazard studies