General rules and information - Comparative Medicine Core facility
Important information and facility rules
Important information and facility rules
CoMed is clean compared to the outside world. It is very important to protect the animals against infections entering from the surroundings, as such infections might seriously affect the research projects and the health of our animals. Working in an animal facility might represent a health risk for researchers and staff. There are also several laws and regulations governing laboratory animal use. For these reasons and more, we have several important facility rules that apply to all users.
To ensure adherence, all users must read and understand all information on this website, paying close attention to our facility rules, and confirm this on our New user form before they can start working at CoMed.
We also have Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for several of the procedures being used in our facility. The most commonly used SOPs are available on this website. HSE procedures are found in the section for HSE. Please make sure to follow these when you plan your work, and contact the staff if you have any questions. Additional SOPs will be developed and implemented when new procedures are introduced in the facility.
- Receiving information from the facility
- Routines for entering and leaving the facility
- Personal protective equipment
- Quarantine regulations
- Contact with rodents
- Order and hygiene
- Waste disposals
- Booking of room, medical-technical equipment, drugs and technical assistanse
- Ordering and import of animals
- Housing and care of animals
- Software system for cages and animals - MLIMS
- Loan of equipment
- Transport of animals and equipment
- Biological material/biological agents
- Import or export of biological material
- Genetically modified organisms
- Pregnant employees
- Visitors
- Pictures
- Fire alarm
Receiving information from the facility - email list
We use an email list when sending information to our users, and we strongly recommend all users to sign up. To do so, send an email to the head of facility.
Routines for entering and leaving the facility
- Write your name, date and time of entry on the white board outside the entrance.
- Use your key card to open the door.
- NB: if the alarm system is active, there will be a red light on the alarm box under the white board. Deactivate the alarm system by pressing the unlock button, use your key card, insert your code and press "Yes". Remember to activate the alarm system if you are the last person to leave the facility (no names on the board and no shoes in the locker rooms). Use the lock button and follow the instructions on the box.
- On the "dirty" side of the barrier, remove your personal clothes (not underwear) and place them in a locker.
- Wash your hands and apply disinfectant.
- Step over the barrier
- Put on clean scrubs, clean shoes and hair net and enter the facility.
- When leaving: step over the barrier, place scrubs in washing bag, hair net and mask in waste bin, wash your hands, put on your personal clothes and leave the facility. Remember to remove your name from the white board.
- IMPORTANT: Bring as little equipment as possible into the facility. We have paper and pens available, please do not bring your own. Use the equipment barrier when bringing research equipment into the facility, and make sure to disinfect it properly. More information about equipment entry is found below.
Personal protective equipment
Laboratory clothes, hairnet, mask and gloves are mandatory when working with laboratory animals. Additional disposable coats are recommended when working with rats. The PPE is to protect the animals against infections and yourself from allergens. Some tasks may require additional protection. Make yourself familiar with the appropriate MSDS's and safety sheets, and use the required protective equipment. Gloves with higher chemical protection can be found in the surgery rooms. A procedure for clothing is also found in the wardrobes. If in doubt, contact the head of the facility.
Quarantine regulations
Our units have different barrier levels. The transgenic breeding unit and the SPF unit are our cleanest units. Only animals with an approved SPF status (specific-pathogen-free) are allowed to enter these units. Animals without a documented SPF standard will be housed in the quarantine unit until rederived and tested negative.
There are also quarantine rules for personell moving between the different units:
- 48 hours quarantine after working in the quarantine unit or I3 laboratory before you can work in the SPF-unit.
- Anyone who has been working in the large animal unit and wore the required safety equipment, i.e. the units own clothes, hairnet, 3M mask, gloves, and has showered, can work on the SPF unit the next day. Otherwise the 48-hour rule applies here too.
- There is no quarantine if you go from SPF to quarantine/I3 or large animal unit.
Contact with rodents
We have a 48-hour quarantine for all rodent units after being in contact with other rodents, both pets and rodents from other animal facilities. This is to protect our animals from being exposed to contamination from other rodents.
Order and hygiene
Everyone is responsible for cleaning up after themselves. You must leave the workplace as it was when you started your work, ready for the next user.
All reusable equipment that has been in contact with laboratory animals or biological material must be washed, disinfected, and if possible autoclaved.
Surgical instruments can be placed in the box by the sink in the surgery room after use. If you bring your own instruments and leave them for cleaning, please inform the technicians.
Ethanol is used for wiping workbenches, glass surfaces and similar smooth surfaces, after cleaning with soap and water. Spray from the bottle and wipe with paper tissue. This cannot replace Virkon if biological material is spilled. NB: Do not use ethanol on the old anesthesia chambers.
Virkon is the recommended disinfectant. Ask the technicians for help preparing it. Virkon is used for disinfecting surfaces after working with biological material. Reusable equipment that can't tolerate autoclaving can be dipped in Virkon for at least 30 minutes. Wipe all surfaces and equipment free from Virkon afterwards.
Perasafe should in some cases replace Virkon. Clean surfaces and equipment with soap and spray with Perasafe. Wait 10 minutes (except when working with fungi, which require longer). Wipe the surfaces and equipment after the disinfection.
We also have disinfectant surface wipes available, for equipment that doesn't tolerate ethanol or Virkon.
We recommend dry fogging larger equipment before it is brought into the facility. The disinfection process takes about 3-4 hours, and needs to be arranged in advance. Please contact daily manager.
Waste disposals
All waste from animal rooms and labs must be disposed of in specific hazardous waste boxes labeled with content.
- Put all waste from animal rooms and surgery rooms in the yellow hazard waste boxes.
- Put Spiky/cutting waste in smaller yellow boxes available on the surgery tables.
- Chemicals/ drugs: Contact daily manager for help.
- Put Biological waste/animal carcasses in one of the freezers in the hallway. Use the freezer under the refrigerator if you want to store your samples for a shorter period of time. Use the large freezer for waste that can be sent for destruction. We also have a -80 degrees freezer available. For long term storage, transfer your samples to your external lab/institute.
Booking of room, medical-technical equipment, drugs and technical assistanse
Surgery rooms, labs, anesthetic and analgetic drugs, medical-technical equipment and technical assistance are all booked through our booking system Bookitlab. After registering in the system, contact head of facility or daily manager for access to our core. You also need access to funding, which is granted by your research group. You can find a link to the system on our front page. For information about our labs, rooms and equipment, read "Equipment and services" in the left side menu on our front page. If you cannot find what you are looking for or have other questions, send an email to dyreavdelingen@mh.ntnu.no.
Important: You need to book a lab for all procedures. Do not perform you work in the housing rooms. These must be available for our animal technicians, taking care of your animals.
Ordering and import of animals
Animals from commercial suppliers are ordered though the daily manager. Place your order by Wednesday morning for delivery Friday the following week. This is done by sending an email to trine.skoglund@ntnu.no with the necessary information: species, strain, sex, number of animals, age/body weight, FOTS-number, project number and K-sted. If nothing else is specified, we will order your animals from Janvier.
If you want to import animals from a non-commercial source, please contact head of facility well in advance. If the animals are not of SPF status, they have to be rederived and health monitored before they can enter the transgenic breeding unit or SPF unit. All GMO strains must be followed by an animal welfare assessment. For more information, see the information on Genetically modified organisms.
Housing and care of animals
The facility staff is responsible for the daily care of your animals. We perform daily health checks and make sure the animals have food and water available at all times. The researchers are responsible for monitoring the animals during research projects, giving the necessary treatments and performing more frequent follow up when needed. If you use score sheets to monitor and document animal health, these should be available in the facility.
Important:
- Make sure to update the cage cards with information on all procedures.
- Remember that you need FOTS approval for all procedures, you cannot perform any procedure that is not described in your FOTS protocol.
- When a cage is emptied, leave the cage card with us for storage.
Animal colony management system - MLIMS
We register all rodents and their cages in our animal colony management system, MLIMS, at arrival or at birth. The animals are sorted in research groups/labs. It is very important that the research groups keep their information in MLIMS up to date. After euthanizing animals or changing the housing arrangements, make sure to update MLIMS yourself or ask for help from us.
Important: All animals must be sorted into protocols, either a FOTS protocol or a breeding or In vitro protocol, according to planned use. This information must be available for the authorities on request. We recommend using MLIMS to keep track of this information. Contact the facility for help if necessary.
For access to MLIMS, please ask your PI, or contact Anne Åm or Trine Skoglund.
Lab equipment
The facility's surgical instruments are available for all users. The same applies for the disposable equipment, scales, sentrifuges, pipettes etc. Do not move equipment from one room to another without approval from the facility staff.
Transport of animals and equipment
You are not allowed to bring equipment into the facility without prior agreement with the head of facility. That also applies to moving equipment from the dirty (quarantine and large animal unit) into the SPF/transgenic unit. Inform head of facility or daily manager at least 48 hours in advance, to plan the disinfection procedure.
Inform head of facility before transporting animals between units and to Kavli/MR Core. Read separate SOP: Transport of animals outside CoMed.
You are not permitted to move animals from dirty to clean units without rederivation and subsequent health monitoring.
Biological material/biological agents
(Cell-lines, tissue, blood, serum, ascites fluids, bacteria a.s.o.)
Biological material can carry pathogens that might be a danger to you, the animals or the research projects. All biological material must be tested according to FELASAs recommendations before it is brought into the facility. Read the SOP "Innførsel av cellelinjer og annet biologisk materiale" under "HSE", and contact the head of facility well in advance if you are planning to bring biological material in to the facility.
Biological material might form aerosols and contaminate others in the room. Avoid procedures that increase the chance of aerosol formation, make sure you wear the necessary personal protective equipment and reduce the risk of spreading the aerosols. Example: Have a piece of paper in front of the needle when you remove air from the syringe.
All work with biological material must be risk assessed and SOP's should be developed as needed.
Everyone working with biological material is responsible for ensuring that the material and equipment are either disinfected in the unit or secured according to the routines for waste treatment before it is taken out of the unit. The preferred procedure should be a part of the SOP.
Projects involving biological factors in hazard group 2 and 3 must be reported to The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority.
Working with biological agents - Kunnskapsbasen - NTNU
Import or export of biological material
Samples from research animals are classified as animal byproducs class 1. If you want to ship such material to another institution, in Norway or in the EU, you need to prepare a transport document. For import or export to a third country (outside the EU), you also need approval from the Food Safety Authorities and/or relevant authorities abroad in advance. Contact head of facility for more information. Without a transport document, and approval when relevant, your samples might be destroyed at the border. NB: This is also the case for cell lines.
Veiledning om bruk og import av animalske biprodukter
Genetically modified organisms
CoMeds rodent units are approved for the use of genetically modified animals and genetically modified microorganisms of class 1 and 2. All use of genetically modified animals and microorganisms must be reported to the Department of health before the animals or microorganisms are imported into the facility. Read the SOP "Arbeid med genmodifiserte organismer" under "HSE".
All genetically modified animals are considered to have a harmful phenotype, unless concluded to be non-harmful upon completion of an Animal welfare assessment. Without such an assessment in place, you need approval from the authorities to import and house your animal model at CoMed.
For these reasons - make sure to contact head of facility well in advance if you plan on bringing genetically modified animals or microorganisms into the facility.
Pregnant employees
The facility has a SOP for pregnant employees. This is available under HSE and also in the facility. We recommend pregnant employees to inform their PI and the head of facility as soon as possible, to discuss facilitation of working tasks and the use of personal protective equipment.
Visitors
You are not permitted to take visitors into the facility without prior agreement with the head of facility. This is important also for visiting researchers and people from the media. Read separate SOP under HSE: Visitors to CoMed.
Pictures
You are not permitted to take pictures in the facility without prior agreement with the head of facility. For the safety of yourself and others, do not post pictures on social media.
Fire alarm
If the fire alarm goes off, leave the facility as quickly as possible through the marked emergency exits. The meeting place for all evacuees is in front of the building. If you are performing a surgical procedure and don't observe signs of danger (smoke a.s.o), you can wait for 5 minutes. If you have not by that time been in contact with the fire manager of the facility, euthanize the animal and leave the facility as soon as possible.