Rodent animal model facility

Responsible: Prof. Fiorella Altruda, fiorella.altruda@unito.it

Flavio Cristofani, flavio.cristofani@unito.it

The MBC animal facility, located in Via Nizza 52, consists of 900 m2, which will double in the new building being ultimated.

It is equipped for housing both conventional and Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) animals, and can accommodate both colonies of the most commonly used strains of mice, strains of genetically modified mice, and NSG immunosuppressed mice for xenotransplantation experiments.

More than 100 experimental projects approved since 2014 by the Ministry of Health (Legislative Decree 26/2014) currently refer to the facility. This infrastructure has allowed the launch of new research lines and the widening of the range of services, which include, in addition to the current open-access breeding and housing services and veterinary control, also services of generation and characterization of  engineered pre-clinical models (transgenic, knock-out, knock-in, etc. see Gene Transfer Service). The activities of the MBC animal facility have representd the basis of over 300 scientific publications, 5 patents and competitive funding (national public and private projects, regional/public and private premises, agreements with private entities/companies) and allowed the development of preclinical models for new therapies in humans.

Furthermore, the MBC facility is a strategic infrastructure for the activities of the Center for Excellence in Molecular Imaging of the University of Turin, belonging to the European network DiMI (Diagnostic Molecular Imaging).