Changes in animal house operations
In order to have an animal house operation that is more suitably dimensioned for our current needs and reduce the faculty's costs for the activities, a number of structural changes are now being implemented within the Centre for Comparative Medicine (CCM). Here we have gathered important information about the changes.
Practical information for those who conduct animal experiments
- Researchers with mice in breeding will primarily have these animals at CMU.
- Researchers will have mice waiting for trials primarily at CMU.
- Experiments on mice (e.g. behavioural studies, loads, image analysis) take place in the laboratories in BMC's and CRC's animal houses and on LBIC's premises. Mice for these purposes are sent from CMU to BMC or CRC.
- Experiments on rats take place in the laboratories of BMC's animal house.
- Long-term trials with intermittent measures of a simpler nature such as weighing, injections, health status, etc. take place at CMU.
- Long-term experiments with repeated measures of a more complex nature, such as behavioural studies or physiological studies, or in the case of serial experiments where animals are treated repeatedly, take place at BMC and CRC respectively (and are then stored there).
- In addition, it is possible for researchers to locate all animal activities at CMU Flex.
- The P2/P3 operations at BMC will move to CMU in the spring. Affected researchers will be invited to a workshop about this in the near future.
- The transports will take place according to existing procedures for the transport of animals and tissues, which can be expanded if necessary.
- If you conduct animal experiments, you will be (or have already been) contacted by CCM to discuss your specific animals and move to CMU.
Background and facts about the change
Why are we making these changes?
The use of laboratory animals has steadily decreased in recent years. This has led to our animal operations being severely oversized (with an occupancy rate of less than 30%). This oversizing together with greatly increased costs (e.g. rent) has resulted in very high costs for the faculty. The faculty now needs to reduce these costs so that resources can be freed up for other important activities, such as the filling of new positions.
What is it that will change?
The animal operations that CCM currently run at Medicon Village are terminated and the area of the animal premises at BMC and CRC is reduced. In addition, changes will be made to where animals that do not participate in experiments are located.
What do we base this decision on?
In the spring of 2024, an inquiry was started under the leadership of Professor Bo Ahrén to in detail look into all possibilities for changes to animal house operations in order to reduce the faculty's costs for this. The changes that are now being implemented are based on the proposals presented by the inquiry.
Why is CCM's activities at Medicon Village being shut down?
We needed to reduce the number of animal facilities (from 4 to 3) that CCM is responsible for in order to be able to reduce costs for both rent and staff.
How much money do we save by making these changes?
The goal is to reduce the costs of CCM by approximately SEK 40 million within the framework of a three-year period. Part of the savings will benefit animal users through a reduction in the cage fee.
How will the cage fee be affected by the move and closure of Medicon Village?
The cage fee will be reduced by 10% per cage and week already next year at BMC and CRC, and by 20% at CMU. Further reductions are planned to come as the savings show their full impact and will then be determined in the faculty's allocation of resources.
Will it be possible to get new tenants into the premises at BMC and CRC that we are now leaving or will the faculty have to continue to pay for these?
We are looking into the possibility of finding new tenants in the premises at BMC and CRC that we now leave. For some of the premises, there are already plans for other uses, while work is still underway for other premises.
Contact CCM
Caroline Bäck
+46 46 222 41 33
caroline [dot] back [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se (caroline[dot]back[at]med[dot]lu[dot]se)