- Animal facilities
- Our services
To advance our understanding of disease and work towards effective therapies, Garvan has established two animal facilities: an in-house Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) facility known as the Biological Testing Facility (BTF), for small-scale housing of small rodents, with specialised facilities for experimental work; and the off-site Australian BioResources Pty Ltd (ABR) facility, for breeding mouse strains for Garvan researchers and partner institutes.
The Garvan Institute operates under strict ethical guidelines. We only use animals in research programs that are of the highest quality and where no alternatives are available. All such work is carried out under licences issued by the Garvan/St Vincent’s Animal Ethics Committee (AEC). The AEC ensures that the use of animals is justified, taking into consideration the scientific or educational benefits and the potential effects on the welfare of the animals. Read more about our policy on animals in research here.
Biological Testing Facility
The Biological Testing Facility at Garvan is a centralised Specific Pathogen Free facility with housing and phenotypic analysis of small rodents. Staff are trained in the care and husbandry of these animals, and the facility offers full-time veterinary support.
The facility contains specialised equipment for phenotyping genetically modified mice including Oxymax indirect calorimetry, along with other specialised facilities and equipment, to assist with biomedical research. These include in vivo animal imaging, irradiator, PC2 infectious rodent facilities, variable temperature and reverse light cycle room, and the behavioural phenotyping facility.
For information about the Biological Testing Facility’s imaging services, see our animal imaging service.
Australian BioResources Pty Ltd
The Australian BioResources Pty Ltd (ABR) facility in Moss Vale, NSW, is a state-of-the-art centralised facility specialising in breeding congenic, mutant and genetically modified mouse lines for Garvan and partner institutes.
The services it provides include import/export, rederivation, cryopreservation and genome editing using the latest targeting technologies. The facility is supported by a world-class facility management system called ‘Stuart’. All services are ordered and their progress tracked online, using the StuartWeb platform.
Contact us
For further information about accessing our services, please contact Michael Pickering
M.Pickering@garvan.org.auSupport our research
Your donation helps our researchers discover scientific breakthroughs that will prevent, diagnose and cure disease.Donate now