Research Support Facilities

Animal Facility

Welcome

The CIC bioGUNE´s Animal Unit (AU) is an accredited facility which includes a Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) area to house rodents from commercial sources and to produce and keep strains of genetically engineered mice (GEM). The Animal Facility is a central operating unit at CIC bioGUNE that provides the conditions to perform experiments on animals in accordance with animal protection and welfare standards. It is charged with the simultaneous tasks of facilitating research and assuring animal welfare.

The Animal Facility provides researchers with high quality laboratory animals. These animals are kept and bred in accordance with European animal welfare and hygiene recommendations and thus provide an excellent basis for biomedical experiments. The facility holds rats and mice, with the capacity to hold approximately 5,000 live specimens. The animal facility personnel also provides guidance and consultancy regarding the use of laboratory animals as well as technical and scientific assistance.

Instrumentation

Support facilities include an experimental surgery suite, small animal echography machine, instrument to perform biochemical and hematological analyses (automated complete blood counter), electrophysiology (ECG/EKG), and quarantine and biohazards housing at the ABSL2 level.

Service catalogue

In addition to experimental animal research into infectious diseases, the Facility performs experiments for research into metabolism and biomedical issues and new tools for use in animal experiments. The unit also makes animal experiment expertise available for scientific activities including the development of new therapies, and interventions for pharmaceutical and biological products.

Service Request

For inquiries and consultations on animal experiment expertise and protocols please contact Juan Anguita at animalfacility@cicbiogune.es

CIC bioGUNE statement on the use of research animals

CIC bioGUNE has joined the Agreement on Openness on Animal Research, promoted by the Federation of Scientific Societies in Spain (COSCE), with the collaboration of the European Association of Research Animals (EARA). This initiative was launched on September 20th, 2016.

The Animal Facility provides researchers with high quality laboratory animals. These animals are kept and bred in accordance with European animal welfare and hygiene recommendations and thus provide an

An important part of the research undertaken at CIC bioGUNE aims at contributing to the improvement of human health and wellbeing and is carried out thanks to the use of animals. Animal experimentation plays a fundamental role in the discovery of the underlying biological mechanisms of disease, and in the development of medical treatments. Without research with animals, we would not have most of the medicines, antibiotics, vaccines and surgical techniques that are nowadays applied in human and veterinary medicine.

The welfare of animals used for research purposes is of paramount importance for CIC bioGUNE, as is the strict compliance and respect to the current legislation on the protection of animals used in research. Our aim is to achieve the highest standards in animal welfare, not only from the point of view of our moral responsibility to them, but also because we are convinced that 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.

CIC bioGUNE also ensures that the personnel involved in animal care and researchers posse the adequate education and training and the required professional skills, and that all resources are provided to properly keep research animals in high quality, controlled facilities and under continuous veterinary care.

Not a single research project requiring the use of animals could start without the appropriate and required Ethics assessment and the eventual authorization by the competent authorities. Our work is also supervised and accredited by International, a non-profit organization that oversees the application of the most strict welfare standards for experimentation with animals. CIC bioGUNE also ensures that the personnel involved in animal care and researchers posses the adequate education and training and the required professional skills, and that all resources are provided to properly keep research animals in high quality, controlled facilities and under continuous veterinary care.


  • In 2021 the animal facility at CIC bioGUNE used 2368 mice.
  • The research performed included basic (Immune system, Gastrointestinal system, Nervous system, Oncology) as well as applied/translational science on endocrine and metabolic diseases.