Animal Facilities
The Animal Resource Center (ARC) is the centralized animal care unit at UCSB, complies with all federal, state, and local regulations and guidelines for laboratory animal care, and is fully accredited by AAALACi. The combined square footage of the two ARC animal facilities is approximately 22,000 square feet. The newest facility is a rodent barrier facility, and the older facility is a conventional multi-species facility. In addition to the animal holding and animal support area (e.g., cage washing), these facilities contain dedicated and shared animal surgical areas, necropsy rooms, and animal procedure rooms. A facility orientation and training is provided to all users (contact the ARC Manager to arrange for this training). This document summarizes our biosecurity program and facility-use expectations.
Veterinary Care
The veterinary care program at UCSB is overseen by a full-time Attending Veterinarian. Trained animal technicians or research staff monitor the health of the animal colony on a daily basis, including weekends and holidays. A veterinarian is available (on-call) after-hours, weekends, and holidays for emergency care. The contact information for the veterinarian is posted in the vivarium and is listed below. Any animal showing symptoms of disease, pain, or distress, either spontaneously or after an experimental procedure, should be promptly reported to the veterinarian. The veterinarian notes initial observations, health evaluations, diagnosis, and recommends a treatment or resolution plan. The PI or a member of the research team is notified (by phone or email) to ensure that the proposed treatment plan does not interfere with the experimental treatments/manipulations and must respond to the veterinarian’s treatment request within 24 hours to ensure timely resolution of clinical problems. In most cases treatment is initiated right away. In cases of emergency, or when there is severe pain, distress, or an illness not addressed specifically in the approved protocol, then the PI understands and agrees to allow the veterinarian or designee to provide emergency veterinary care (or euthanasia) without their explicit consent. This agreement is affirmed by the PI as one of the conditions of their animal protocol approval.
Contact Information
| Contact Personveronica.wynn@ucsb.edu | During Business Hours | After Hours or Emergency |
|---|---|---|
| Director, Campus Vet: Manuel A. Garcia, DVM, PhD, DACLAM | 805-451-5931 / manuel.garcia@ucsb.edu | 805-451-5931 |
| ARC Manager | 805-452-7716 / veronica.wynn@ucsb.edu | 805-452-7716 |
| ARC Office | 805-893-2333 |
ARC Services
The ARC staff provides many essential services to the UCSB research community, including:
- Husbandry and care for animals housed in ARC animal facilities are provided at the following recharge rates.
- Expert veterinary care for all research animals housed in the ARC. Reportable clinical signs may include, but are not limited to, bleeding, open wounds, difficulty breathing, inability to ambulate or difficulty moving, unusual postures at rest, and abnormal neurological signs (e.g., head tilt, circling, ataxia).
- Animal procurement from pre-approved laboratory animal vendors, Charles River Laboratories (CRL) and The Jackson Laboratory (JAX): Please complete the Animal Procurement (AP) form to document all animal purchases. The UCSB Procurement Gateway (https://gateway.
procurement.ucsb.edu/Login. ) is used to place laboratory animal orders. Use this guide to assist you in placing your order. Alternatively, you may submit your AP form to the ARC and request that the ARC place your order in Gateway by emailing the completed AP form to animalorders@research.ucsb.edu; however, our resources are limited and we may need to establish a recharge rate for this service.aspx
Animal importation or exportation from/to another academic institution: Please contact the ARC Manager and complete this form to provide the necessary information for the ARC to arrange for the importation and quarantine of your animals. - Technical services such as animal dosing, rodent colony breeding management, collecting samples, and euthanasia.
- Training programs for ARC staff and research personnel.