Biological Resources Unit

Facilities and capacity

Our facility is equipped with rodent caging and infrastructure with capacity to support a wide range of research needs, housing mice and rats in individually ventilated (IVC) cages. To support our fundamental commitment to animal welfare, environmental conditions are controlled to provide appropriate temperature, humidity, ventilation, and lighting.

The Conventional area houses mice and rats in 2 holding rooms and has 6 experimental surgical and procedural rooms with an additional space dedicated to quarantine and containment.

The Barrier area contains 3 holding rooms for breeding and has 7 rooms for surgical and procedural work including facilities for the transgenic work of the Institute’s pre-clinical genome editing Core Facility which also runs the BRU’s Small Animal Hospital.

State-of-the-art imaging suite

Our state-of-the-art imaging suite managed by the Institute’s Imaging Core Facility.

Staffing

The unit has around 30 staff who provide technical, husbandry and legislative support to internal research groups, external collaborators, and embedded companies. Additionally, the BRU has skilled and dedicated technical and veterinary staff who provide professional help and advice.

Compliance, ethics and animal welfare

We do not undertake animal research lightly. We conduct our work in line with the values of Cancer Research UK and UK law and closely follow the guidance published by animal welfare bodies such as the RSPCA and LASA (Laboratory Animals in Science Association).

As part of this process, the potential scientific and medical benefits of the research are weighed up against the possible effects on the animals involved by our Animal Welfare and Ethics Review Body (AWERB) and the Home Office before any research project involving animals can proceed.

We are committed to the principles of the 3Rs:

Replacement

Methods which avoid or replace the use of animals.

Reduction

Methods which minimise the number of animals used and increase data per animal.

Refinement

Methods which minimise suffering and improve animal welfare.

Links to further information

Our animal studies are undertaken in strict compliance with the UK Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. Both the University of Cambridge and Cancer Research UK are signatories of the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK that sets out how organisations report using animals in scientific, medical, and veterinary research in the UK.

Outreach and training

Our team welcomes the opportunity to share more about what we do. We run frequent outreach sessions, facility tours and workshops to inform and educate about animal research and the legislation that underpins it. We strongly believe in the importance of supporting people of all ages to explore their own personal ethics around the use of animals in society, both in research scenarios and more broadly.