Center for Animal Resources and Research: latest news

The Institut Pasteur provides its research groups with the infrastructure required to use animal models in optimal ethical and regulatory conditions. This infrastructure is integrated into the Center for Animal Resources and Research (C2RA) in the Department of Technology and Scientific Programs (DTPS), which also provides expertise in genetically engineering rodents to develop new animal models of human diseases. At the C2RA, scientists can also produce Anopheles mosquitoes to investigate the interactions between the Plasmodium parasites responsible for malaria and their mammal or mosquito hosts. High containment conditions are in operation at all the animal testing facilities.

 

• Appointment of the Head of the Center for Animal Resources and Research

Christophe Joubert, an expert administrative officer at the Institut Pasteur, was appointed as Head of the Center for Animal Resources and Research (C2RA) on October 1, 2019.

As laid down in internal memo 0097, the Center for Animal Resources and Research is composed of:
• The Central Animal Facility, led by Christophe Joubert
• The Center for the Production and Infection of Anopheles, led by Patricia Baldacci
• The Mouse Genetics Engineering Center, led by Francina Langa-Vives

 

More information in decision memo 949

 

• The Center for Animal Resources and Research and the Center for Technology Resources and Research on pasteur.fr

The pasteur.fr website now contains dedicated web pages for the two centers in the Department of Technology and Scientific Programs:

• the Center for Animal Resources (C2RA) – see the web page for detailed information about how the Institut Pasteur provides its research groups with the infrastructure required to use animal models in optimal ethical and regulatory conditions.

• the Center for Technology Resources and Research (C2RT), which houses four technology and service units (UTechS) and 12 technological platforms.

 

• Institut Pasteur position on the use of animal models

The Institut Pasteur is committed to the welfare of animals used in its scientific research. It applies the "3Rs" principle: replacement, reduction and refinement. Testing protocols are evaluated by an ethics committee to verify that they are justified, that the number of animals used is kept to a minimum, and that animal suffering is alleviated. Alternatives to animal testing are also proposed to our scientists. For example, a center for organ-on-a-chip technology has recently been set up in collaboration with the biotechnology firm Emulate™. The center offers the Institut Pasteur's research groups novel cell-based technologies that reproduce organ functions, thereby helping reduce the need for animal testing at the Institut Pasteur.

See the Institut Pasteur's position on the use of animal models