Basic laboratory animal science

Course overview

The course is for PhD and research year students, post docs and possibly technicians, and corresponds to what is described in §56 of Executive Order no. 1065 of 25/09/2024, chapter 14, on qualification requirements for personnel who work with experimental animals, and is approved by the responsible Danish authority (Fødevarestyrelsen).

The course entitles those who have taken it to carry out animal experiments under another person's animal experimental license, cf. functions A and D as described in EU Directive 2010/63/EU Article 23.2:

A: Carrying out procedures

D: Euthanize animals

Registration and questions

The course is administered by the Graduate School of Health, and registration takes place via the course calendar. The course can be found by searching for 'laboratory animal science'. Questions regarding registration and payment can be directed to the Course Team NAT,TECH and Health courses.nat.tech.he@au.dk.

For further information about the course, the veterinarians at the Department of Biomedicine can be contacted at vet.biomed@biomed.au.dk.

Course Content

The course is an intensive one-week course, and contains both theoretical and practical teaching. The theory covers, among other things:

  • Use of laboratory animals in biomedical research
  • Laboratory animal biology, anatomy and behaviour
  • Danish and European legislation
  • Ethics
  • Working environment and safety
  • Hygiene and health monitoring
  • Anesthesia and pain management
  • 3R

During practical exercises, handling and execution of basic procedures on mice and rats is taught. The exercises are compulsory to participate in, in order to pass the course.

Course format

This is a course requiring physical presence. 

It is available twice a year and duration is one week corresponding to approximately 40 hours of work.

Completion of the course is followed by an online multiple-choice examination.

The course is taught in English.

Course fee

Participation in the course is without cost for:

  • PhD students and Health Research Year students from Aarhus University
  • PhD students enrolled at partner universities of the Nordoc collaboration
  • PhD students from other institutions in the open market agreement for PhD courses

Others: 9.000 DKK.