Avdeling for komparativ medisin (AKM)

June 2023
The process of finalizing the equipment of the large animal facility has started, it is expected to be finish by the end of 2023. The plan of reopening AKM-2 is expected within 2023/early 2024.

11th of May 2023
Our first AKM-seminar was held with more than 80 participating researchers.

March-April 2023 In collaboration with Nord university in Bodø, Project Zebrafish has started to get the facility for zebrafish up and running. Competence will be recruted to assist the project.

January 2023 The dean of the health faculty has requred an action plan for AKM 1, 2 and 3. It is a strategic plan for future research- and education at AKM. The report has been delivered and approved.

January 2023 The test run of AKM 2 (in colaboration with Statsbygg) has started and the last building projects are coming to an end. With a stable 3 months test period and a full functional facility, an approval in Mattilsynet can be applied for.

December 2022 The webpage of AKM is in the remake and structual changes will be implemented for 2023. Webbased forms has been implemented for animal purchase, technical service etc.

Application to conduct research using experimental animals

Anyone who will perform experiments with animals needs permission from the Norwegian Food Safety Authorities (Mattilsynet). A prerequisite is to have completed a course in animal experimental science and then you will have to apply for each planned animal experiment. There are two types of animal experiments.

In vivo (experiments on live animals)
In vitro (laboratory experiments using animal tissues/cells collected postmortem)

How to apply for In vivo projects:

The application should be sent electronically in the system FOTS. Find more information of how to register as a user in FOTS under the menu access, you can apply to register in FOTS using this form: FOTS registration.

Applications should be submitted well in advance before the scheduled start of the experiment.

How to apply for in vitro-projects

All In vitro-projects is locally approved by the Designated Veterinarian /person with special screening responsibility (PMSK). All researchers at UiT will have to write a detailed application using this form, you can also find it in the top menu User-forms.

For more information see Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet). The webpage is only available in norwegian.

Direct login to FOTS

Three different experimental animal courses are available at UiT

CAREiN Experimental animal course in laboratory animals ((8 ECTS)
HEL-6320 for Fieldwork/wildlife (terrestrial and marine wild mammals and birds) (6 ECTS)
BIO-3503 for aquatic animals (fish and decapods) (5 ECTS)

From the beginning of 2023 a national corporation has been established between the universities in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Tromsø regarding the CAREiN course in laboratory animals. Therefor registration to the theoretical part of the course is done via Bergen University (UiB) and the first part is strictly an online curse. Practical skills are then taught at UiT (in department for comparative medicine) for students registered at UiT.

For more information see here: courses

The novel AKM building is equipped with up-to-date zebrafish facilities.

Zebrafish is a well-known model system for early vertebrate embryo development, and its overall sequence similarity with humans and conserved catalytic sites and functions for proteins involved in e.g drug metabolism, signaling pathways and transcriptional regulation, makes it suitable as a model in the medical field, to study human diseases as well in animal physiology and aquatic toxicology. There are several advantages using zebrafish as a model system: it is a small and robust fish, the generation time is short, the number of offsprings are high per mating, and fertilization is external so live embryos are accessible to manipulation and can be monitored through all developmental stages. In addition, advanced molecular techniques can be used to manipulate the genome and make transgenic fish or isogenic (clonal) lines. Advanced methods and equipment make it possible to perform various molecular analyses as well as studying e.g behavior, and last but not least the space and costs required compared to other model systems are small. Several zebrafish models for human diseases exists, and especially interesting for research at the Faculty of Health Sciences could be mentioned zf models for cardiovascular disease, autophagy, metabolism, cancer, neuroscience, drug screening and drug development. For research done at the Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics it is relevant to mention that zebrafish provides a range of well-developed molecular genetic techniques which are not available for other ecologically and commercially relevant fish species by facilitating some in-depth analyses using a powerful and versatile fish model. This could allow studying different genetic, immunological and physiological processes like genetic mapping and identification of quantitative trait loci, and testing of bioactive compounds with therapeutic potential. Within aquatic toxicology, the model is used among others to determine the mechanisms of toxicity of contaminants, generate toxicity data for regulatory ecotoxicology based on standardized tests and allows to study epigenetic inheritance through multi- and trans-generational experiments.

In Norway zebrafish research is conducted at the Zebrafish core facility at NCMM in Oslo, the Norwegian Zebrafish Platform at NMBU in Ås, the Zebrafish facility at the University of Bergen, the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at NTNU and at the Nord University in Bodø.

For pictures of our facility at UiT see here.

New facilities have been built at the Section of comparative medicine (AKM) where it is possible to conduct projects and research based on infectious disease models. The unit has professional laboratories and housing facilities for rodents (mice, rats) both wildtype and transgenic and are classified biosafety level 2.

Biosafety level 2 (BSL-2) covers all laboratories working with agents associated with human disease that poses a moderate health hazard. Examples of research conducted at AKM are work with human and mouse cytomegalovirus and the unit have potential for supporting many more future projects.

Additionally, the unit can be used as a quarantine station when receiving animals from non-commercial suppliers as these animals are not considered specific pathogen free animals (SPF).

For pictures of our facility see here.

APPLICATION FOR ANIMAL EXPERIMENT
All applications to conduct experiments on animals must be submitted electronically via FOTS. Please contact UCM's leader in order to obtain a username and password. Applications should be submitted well in advance before the scheduled start of the experiment.

For in vitro projects, please use the application form found on the right menu of this page.

ORDERING RODENTS

All orders of animals go through the Unit of Comparative Medicine (UCM). A separate order form must be filled as is available on the right menu of this page.

Order of rodents occurs on Wednesdays. 11:00 AM. Please fill out the form for ordering laboratory animals and deliver it to UCM well in advance and at the latest by 10:00AM on Wednesdays for processing on that week. Animals usually arrive the following week (normally Wednesday) and are quarantined for 5 days after arrival.

ORDERING LARGE ANIMALS

All orders of animals go through the Unit of Comparative Medicine (AKM). A separate order form must be filled and on the right menu of this page you will find the one for order of pigs. For other species please take contact with the Unit leader.

Your order must be submitted / delivered to UCM at least 10 days prior to pickup by the supplier.

COSTS FOR HOUSING LABORATORY ANIMALS AT UCM

Users will be billed for the housing of animals. The price list can be found here. External users will be charged VAT.

Invoices are sent out quarterly. For rodents, the price is given by unit cage/week; for other mammals prices are presented as individual/week; for zebrafish the price unit is aquarium/week.

NOTE: Purchase of animals are NOT included in the prices. Contact UCM for information on purchase prices for animals.

RESEARCH RELATED SERVICES

If you need technical assistance during your animal experiment please fill in the form available on the right menu of this page and deliver to the Unit well in advance of the assistance required period.

UCM USERS' HANDBOOK

The Unit has a user's manual which will in time be available online. This contains information about the department, the requirements of users and health, amont other topics. For the time be please contact the unit directly to receive a copy.

Norwegian Animal Research Authority