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lab customer feedback:
"The entire animal colony was transitioned from conventional to Innovive cages within three weeks and without any downtime. The amount of time spent by our support staff in the cage washer room was redirected toward animal health. Also, it was estimated that after implementation of the disposable cages, the water usage in the vivarium was reduced by approximately 65%.

Furthermore, after a number of years of limited success with breeding of our most difficult knockout mice we are able to plan and expand our animal colony as needed and when needed.

We are confident that these disposable cages were one of the biggest contributors to this success."
Download "Evaluation of Disposable Caging System as a Breeding and Husbandry Solution" - as presented at the 2008 AALAS National Meeting, here »»
in the news

ALN article 04/2010 April, 2010
Animal Lab News
"Disposable Caging - How it Helped Our Lab Grow"
Explora Biolabs was looking to scale up rapidly, and disposable caging offered financial and operational benefits.
read on ALN site »»

click to download


Transgenic Breeding

improved transgenic breeding | low cost

In September 2007, the animal facility of a Biomedical Research Laboratory needed significant renovation. Before undertaking any major investment decisions, the company decided to evaluate the Innovive Disposable Rodent Caging System and, specifically, its ability to support the company's animal breeding program.

After conducting a side-by-side breeding evaluation and extensive economic analysis, the customer converted their entire facility to the Innovive System in 2008.


    THE FACILITY - before renovation:

  • 4-5 thousand mice, 8 transgenic and knockout lines
  • Main mouse lines with conventional breeding methods; FAH/Rag2Gamma; NOD/Scid, Shiverer, Rag2Gamma, Shiverer/Rag2Gamma
  • Enrichment devices, Shepherds Shack and Nestles.
  • 100% traditional IVC racks;
  • Husbandry Practices: weekly change, autoclaved cages and bedding, irradiated food.
  • 15000 ft2; 8 standard animal rooms, 5 procedure rooms, 2 storage areas.
  • Cage wash rooms, both clean and dirty side located in the area of main animal facility traffic; Equipment: tunnel washer, 2 autoclaves, rack washer and Fulton boiler.
  • Automatic watering system.

    THE PROBLEM:

  • RESEARCH PROBLEMS: challenges with the frequency and number of offspring, as well as a need for rederivation.
  • FACILITY PROBLEMS: small and aging tunnel washer, old autoclaves.
  • TIME INVOLVEMENT: 40 days for demolition and removal of the existing equipment with approximately 90 days for installation of new equipment.
  • ECONOMICAL: multi-million dollar wash room renovation required.

    THE SOLUTION:

  • Adoption of the Innovive single-use IVC System, eliminating the need for a costly washroom renovation. The customer decided to evaluate Innovive System for its usefulness for company's breeding program.
    The evaluation was initiated in September 2007 and concluded in March of 2008.
    Mouse line selected for the evaluation, NOD/Scid, Rag2Gamma, Shiverer and FAH/Rag2Gamma.

    THE SOLUTION:

  • BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THE BREEDING STUDY AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS, THE CUSTOMER DECIDED TO CONVERT THE FACILITY TO THE INNOVIVE IVC SYSTEM

    Additional Observations and Feedback:

  • Time spent in the cage washroom was redirected to animal health
  • Innovive animal cages are somewhat larger than the conventional ones, they provide excellent visibility throughout the cage.
  • With the use of Aquavive® water bottle, the cages are no longer flooded with water from the automated watering system. This step also led to significant reduction in water consumption - the automated watering system led to loss of approximately two gallons of water per every gallon used.
  • Significant reduction of steam and water in support of the sanitation/sterilization equipment.
  • Significant reduction of the use of diesel and gas.
  • Using the Innovive recyclable/disposable cages significantly reduces environmental footprint.
  • Temperature in the disposable cages is much closer to room temperature than within the conventional cage.

Innovive Comment:

There is no single explanation as to why the Innovive system produces better breeding results, but users cite many possibilities:

  • Healthier animal environment: 5X less ammonia than conventional IVC systems (JAALAS - March 2008, pp58-xx).
  • Non-invasive airflow system leaves animals free from drafts.
  • Virtually vibration-free system.
  • Low noise levels, particularly when cages are moved in/out of the rack.
  • Consistency of all cage properties from one cage-change to the next.
Probably it is some combination of the above, but whatever the case you simply can't argue with results.