The Lab Animal Centre at the University of Eastern Finland is the university’s infrastructure unit in charge of the provision of laboratory animal services for the needs of UEF, as well as the supervision, control and training in activities involving laboratory animals.
The Lab Animal Centre staff take care of the daily welfare of laboratory animals and assist the researchers with procedures and all aspects of the use of animals in research.
Lab Animal Centre is an essential infrastructure for carrying out preclinical studies for diseases of the nervous system, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases, ophthalmology and cancer. The Lab Animal Centre also enables the development and training of new surgical methods.
Collaborating with research groups and other university infrastructures, the Lab Animal Centre offers more extensive in vivo experiments in which, for example, imaging techniques can be combined with the use of animal models of disease. The centre has up-to-date operating theatres, versatile equipment for behavioural testing, video-EEG monitoring equipment, and state-of-the-art angiography and ultrasound equipment for modelling of the circulatory system. Many infrastructures of Biocenter Kuopio operate in the Lab Animal Centre’s premises.
Education and training
The Lab Animal Centre at the University of Eastern Finland organises lab animal courses for researchers, laboratory staff and students. The courses offered at the university have received accreditation from FELASA, the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations. More information on laboratory animal courses is available in Peppi.
TA00CX23 Theory course: The use of animals in research
- Persons who complete the course will have theoretical knowledge about animal usage in research
- The course is organised: in the spring
- Language of instruction: English
- Registration for the course is in Peppi
TA00CX25 Competence course for persons carrying out procedures
- Persons who complete the course will have qualifications to carry out procedures on laboratory animals.
- The course is organised: in the spring
- Language of instruction: English
- Registration for the course is in Peppi
TA00CX24 Competence course for persons designing procedures and projects
- Persons who complete the course and also have previously completed a postgraduate degree in a relevant field become qualified to design and lead laboratory animal experiments.
- The admission criteria for the course is that the person has previously completed the Course for persons carrying out procedures and 180 ECTS credits worth of university studies in a relevant field.
- The course is organised: in the autumn
- Language of instruction: English
- Registration for the course is in Peppi
The Lab Animal Centre at the University of Eastern Finland offers internship positions and employment opportunities for persons pursuing an undergraduate degree in animal care and persons pursuing a vocational qualification for laboratory animal caretakers.
As the name suggests, the Bachelor’s degree in animal care is a degree programme focusing on the basic care and welfare of animals. Persons who complete the Bachelor’s degree in animal care have comprehensive qualifications in animal care and welfare but they do not specialise in working with laboratory animals.
Laboratory animal caretakers acquire their professional skills through practical work, as well as by completing the training leading to a vocational qualification for laboratory animal caretakers and showing that they have the skills required in a competence demonstration. Practical work assignments at the workplace are an important part of successfully completing the vocational qualification for laboratory animal caretakers.
- If you are interested in an internship position or a job at the Lab Animal Centre, please contact us at: koe-elainkeskus(at)uef.fi.
- More information on the Bachelor’s degree in animal care: osaan.fi
- More information on the Vocational qualification for laboratory animal caretakers: Ammattiopisto Livia
Services
The Lab Animal Centre provides in vivo studies as a service to UEF researchers, and also to external customers based on separate agreements. The activities are centred on taking care of the health and welfare of the animals, which will ensure the reliability of the research results.
The Lab Animal Centre has versatile facilities that include basic laboratories, operating rooms, operating theatres and other special facilities, such as facilities for carrying out behavioural and metabolic studies. The Lab Animal Centre also has Faraday chambers for EEG and state of the art angiography and ultrasound equipment for the modelling of the circulatory system.
The services provided at the Lab Animal Centre include:
- the production and acquisition of animals for use in research
- animal care and welfare
- assistance in research-related procedures
- special diets
- drug delivery techniques
- timed mating
- sample and tissue collection
Special services:
- immunisation services
- rearing and testing of chickens in poultry isolators
- the organisation of surgical courses for physicians (facilities, staff, animals)
- assistance in audits carried out on laboratory animal experiments
- assistance with permit applications for projects
Together with research groups and the university’s other research infrastructure, the Lab Animal Centre provides more comprehensive in vivo studies that are designed for various disease models and enable the identification of phenotypes in new animal populations and the use of the latest brain imaging techniques.
The health monitoring of mice, rats, rabbits and hamsters is carried out regularly in all the units of the Lab Animal Centre in accordance with the health monitoring recommendations issued by FELASA.
A more comprehensive monitoring under FELASA’s recommendations is carried out in all of the units once a year. In addition, a less comprehensive monitoring is carried out in the units once or twice a year as needed. If health monitoring is requested by a researcher for the animals they are responsible for, how the monitoring will be implemented and paid for shall be agreed upon separately.
Health monitoring results from 3/2023
Snellmania conventional
Bioteknia 1
Barrier
Health monitoring results, closed unit
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland is the authority that supervises animal use for scientific purposes.
Faculty of Health Sciences (A.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences)
Email: koe-elainkeskus@uef.fi