Education in laboratory animal science

Laboratory animal science

Education in laboratory animal science is mandatory for those that work with or conduct research involving laboratory animals at Umeå University.

The education is divided into a theoretical web-based part and a practical part. You must pass the theoretical part before you can start the practical part.

Web-based theoretical course

Everyone who intend to work with laboratory animals must first pass the theoretical course in Swedish legislation and ethics. This course is mandatory and is the only one who do not include a pratical part.

There are several different theoretical web-based courses you can choose from, which one depends on what species you will work with. Here at Umeå University the main courses held are about Small rodents and Zebrafish.

To gain access and get more information about the theoretical web-based courses, contact the prefekt at UCCB. You as a supervisor/researcher must register yourself and your employees (doctoral students, postdocs and research staff) who need laboratory animal training.

After completionof the theoretical part, you need to inform the UCCB prefekt to be invited to the practical part.

The practical part about Zebrafish can be booked directly with the head of Umeå Zebrafish Facility (UZF) after completion of the theoretical part.

Practical Course - Laboratory Animal Science for researchers - Small rodents (Mouse and Rat)

The course about Small rodents include two parts: animal handling and procedures. This course is held once s month during the semester, see course dates

Max five participants at each course.

Teachers: University veterinarian and UCCB staff

Examination: both pratical and written, required to obtain a certificate an gives three European Credit Transfer System (3 ECTS). Please note, to sit the examination is not mandatory to gain access to the facility.

Course dates autumn 2025 - Small rodents

The practical course - is divided into two parts: first a part focuses on handling of animals and then a part focuses on common procedures such as blood sampling and injections.

Animal handling

Autumn term 2025: 4 September, 2 October, 6 November, 4 December

Procedures

Autumn term 2025: 11 September, 9 October, 20 November, 11 December

Course content, course objectives and acceptance criteria

Animal handling

Objective: to be able to lift, manage and hold mice and rats in a calm and safe way for inspection and other purposes. Assessment of animal´s health status and body condition is discussed and trained

Handling techniques are demonstrated and trained during the course.

Procedures

Objective: to calmly and correctly perform commonly used procedures on mice and rats.

Procedures included in the course:

Subcutaneous injection

Intraperitoneal injection

Intravenous injection

Blood sampling

Anesthesia and analgesia

Euthanasia (cervical dislication and CO₂)

 

 

Practical course - Laboratory Animal Science for researchers – Zebrafish

Instruction and examination on the practical part of the zebrafish course is led by the head of UZF.

The practical part include

• Routines regarding animal handling, feeding and health monitoring
• Identification of males and females
• Practical net training
• Sedation and culling
• Marking and genotyping of individual fish using either skin swabbing or fin clipping method

 

To gain access to animal facility

After completion of the education in laboratory animal science you must book a mandatory introduction to the animal facility. During the introduction you get information how to enter and exit the facility and how to bring in equpment and disposals. Hygiene rules. How to order animals, keep journals and more.

Only after completion of all these parts you can get access to the facility at UCCB.

Please note that an approved ethical permit is required before you can perform animal experiments, see more at web page Ethical approval.

Educational resources

Swedish 3Rs Center

Swedish 3Rs Center  web site is placed at Swedish Board of Agriculture's web site, only in Swedish.

EU legislation and recommendations

EU Commission web site about animals used for scientific purposes. Legislation and recommendations for compliance.

Educational platforms

• Joint Association of European educational resources in Laboratory Animal Science.
  
  
• Nordic education consortium that produce and provide web-based training for LAS (Laboratory Animal Science) function A, C, D and B, (B is not finished).

Experimental design - 3R

• Appropriate experimental design and statistical analysis techniques are key means of minimising the use of animals in research. The British 3R centre provide a number of resources to aid researchers to improve the experimental design for LAS.

On-line courses

• Informative resource library available at the UK's 3R Centre (NC3Rs).
  
  
• On-line resource for experimental design (EDA).
  
  
• This web site trains you how to monitor welfare in laboratory animals, identify endpoints and define responsibilities. You learn how to apply humane endpoints, which improves the scientific quality of your research.
  
  
• This web site provides a series of resources to support the adoption of best practice for commonly used procedures in animal research. The focus is on rats and mice since these are the most widely used animals. Further material will be added to expand the range of techniques and species in the future.

Systematic Review meta-analysis

The on-line course will step-by-step teach you how to do a systematic review and meta-analysis. Systematic review (SR) is a literature review that involves systematically locating, appraising, and synthesising evidence from scientific studies to answer a defined research question based on pre-specified criteria. In SR you generate a powerful search engine to search databases.

SR can be combined with a meta-analysis, a method of combining quantitative results from individual studies identified through the SR. Meta-analysis is an instrument to critically appraise the quality of studies.

Use the code: syrcle to be able to register and to get access to the system.