The Animal Facility Unit supports CIC biomaGUNE´s researchers in the area of animal experimentation. The main functions of the Animal facility Unit are:
- 1. Ensuring compliance of all legal and ethical requirements on the use of animals for research and other scientific purposes.
- 2. Providing care, and monitoring the health and welfare of the laboratory animals, having a thorough knowledge of the husbandry and welfare requirements of the species kept, and via prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
- 3. Provide the researchers with the advise and equipment necessary to carry out their research on laboratory animals.
CIC biomaGUNE has joined the Agreement on Openness on Animal Research, promoted from the Federation of Scientific Societies in Spain (COSCE), with the collaboration of the European Association of Research Animals (EARA), and launched on 20 September 2016.
We are convinced that animal experimentation plays a fundamental role in the discover of the underlying biological mechanisms of disease, and in the developing of medical treatments. Without research in animals, we would not have most of the medicines, antibiotics, vaccines and surgical techniques that are applied nowadays in human and veterinary medicine.
An important part of the research undertaken at CIC biomaGUNE aims at contributing to the improvement of human health and wellbeing and is carried out thanks to the use of animals, for example cancer, brain stroke, medical imaging and the development of new therapies.
The welfare of animals used for research purposes is of paramount relevance for CIC biomaGUNE and also the strict compliance and respect to the current legislation on the protection of animals used in research and for other scientific purposes, including education. Our aim is to achieve the highest standards in animal welfare, not only from the point of view of our moral responsibility on them, but also because we are convinced we could not achieve research excellence without proper animal welfare. Our experiments with animals follow the legal standard and are assessed by an Ethics Committee on Animal Experimentation that promotes the use of alternative methods, the reduction in the number of animals used and the refinement in the experimental protocols applied. Not a single research project requiring the use of animals could start without the appropriate and required Ethics assessment and the eventual authorization from the competent authorities.
AAALAC International is a private, nonprofit organization that promotes the humane treatment of animals in science through voluntary accreditation and assessment programs.
CIC biomaGUNE also ensures that the personnel involved in animal care and researchers do have the adequate education and training and the required professional skills, and that all resources are provided to properly keep research animals in terms of facilities, husbandry, wellbeing and veterinary care.
CIC biomaGUNE also promotes as an initiative towards the Openness on Animal Research, visits from schools and other educational institutions in the region of the Basque country.
- The reality of research with animal models in Spain - COSCE statement (English)
- Comunicado de la Comisión COSCE de Estudio del Uso de Animales en Investigación Científica (Spanish)