Unife facilities guaranteeing animal welfare
Animal experimentation at the University of Ferrara takes place in four authorised facilities.
1) Centralised Laboratory for Pre-clinical Research (LARP). It is a state-of-the-art research infrastructure, suitable for breeding and housing laboratory animals, guaranteeing their welfare and "Specific Pathogen Free" (SPF) health status according to Felasa guidelines. The LARP, part of the Laboratory of Technologies for Advanced Therapies (LTTA), Technohub of Ferrara, is authorised by the Italian Ministry of Health (Italian Ministerial Authorisation No. 18/2017-UT dated 21st July 2017) and by the Municipality of Ferrara (Judicial Police Authorisation No. 80514/2016 Local Health Authority (AUSL) No.48373/2016) for small rodents, mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits; it currently houses only mice and rats. In addition to the housing rooms, various research laboratories are available in the LARP (surgery, in vivo imaging, drug treatments, imaging with a small animal tomograph, BSL3 bio-containment area, area for the analysis of experimental disease models).
2) Laboratory of Behavioural Biology of the Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology; it is equipped for the study of behaviour in animals, with particular reference to teleost fish. The laboratory structure and characteristics comply with current regulations and were approved by the Italian Ministry of Health in 2017 (Italian Ministerial Authorisation No. 18/2017-UT dated 21st July 2017) and by the Municipality of Ferrara (Judicial Police Authorisation No. 70990/2019). The laboratory is organised in an enclosure, where animals are kept in breeding and in rooms equipped for carrying out experiments. The species kept in the farm are teleost fish commonly used as models (zebrafish, medaka, guppy) and other species of interest for specific research areas, such as the hypogeous fish Phreatichthys andruzzii and Astyanax mexicanus. The breeding facilities of the enclosure are highly differentiated in order to promote the welfare of each species at each life stage.
3) Electrophysiology laboratories of the Human Physiology Section of the Faculty of Biomedical and Specialist Surgical Sciences. They are equipped to study the behaviour and physiology of the nervous system in animals, with particular reference to Primates and Rodents. Two separate enclosures refer to the laboratories, one for the keeping of Primates (Authorisation No. 47/2013-A dated 25th February 2013) and the other for the keeping of Rodents (Authorisation No. 47/2013-A dated 25th February 2013). The enclosures are equipped with systems to control the parameters of the environmental microclimate and have an image monitoring/recording system located at the entrance of each enclosure.
4) The Establishment at the Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology (SVEB) is authorised by the Italian Ministry of Health for housing mice (Italian Ministerial Authorisation 18/2017-UT; Municipal Judicial Police Authorisation No. 50734/2015). Livestock housing is equipped with individually ventilated cages (IVC), with dimensions and characteristics that comply with the provisions of the Italian Legislative Decree No. 26/14, to protect the welfare of the animal.