To harmonize between digital platforms, the phrasing “Project Plan” is being phased out and is replaced by “Study Plan”. This is effectuated from January 1^st 2025. Study Plan will be used in the following text.

Study and Breeding Plans are used by the staff in The Animal Facility to get an overview of both experiments and the breeding of experimental animals. The Study Plans contain information about the responsible license holder, the participating researchers, qualifications, invoicing, experimental activity and need of animals. The Study Plan and Breeding Plan are described in more detail below.

Study Plans for experiments

The Animal Facility is expected to keep track of ongoing experimental activities, both by the Danish authorities, the Animal Experiments Inspectorate, and also by the Department of Biomedicine and the Animal Welfare Committee at the Faculty of Health.

The Study Plan is not intended as a repetition of the animal experiment license, as this is often complex and contains descriptions of many different procedures. In the Study Plan, you must make a brief and accurate description of the procedures to be carried out in the given experiment. It must contain a brief description of which humane endpoints are relevant for the experiment, and it must be listed who is the primary contact person for the experiment. In addition, the Study Plan is also used to secure correct working environment and safety, and a risk assessment is made of used biological agents, toxic substances, chemicals, etc.

The information in the Study Plan is used by the staff in The Animal Facility to allocate the necessary resources and support the experimental activities as best as possible, but also to ensure that the experimental activities comply with the given animal experimental license.

   

Study Plans are typically valid for a few weeks. For repetitive studies using equivalent procedures a Study Plan for bathes of animals can be approved for a maximum of 6 months.

    

The completed Study Plans for experiments must be sent to projectplan@biomed.au.dk and the template can be downloaded to the right. Please be aware that processing time may be up to three weeks.

Breeding Plans

The Breeding Plan is used especially for GMO strains to specify which genotypes are desired, how the breeding should be set up, as well as to describe the most important welfare issues and any phenotypes that may be present in the animals. In addition, the Breeding Plan is used to create an overview of how much space and staff must be allocated to the individual strain, and to match the researcher's need for experimental animals as precisely as possible, without wasting animals.

If you wish to import and breed new GMO strains, it is necessary to fill out a Breeding Plan schedule a meeting with team leader Lone Dahl Thomsen at lone.d.thomsen@biomed.au.dk to ensure that all procedures, licenses and formalities are in place and that we can allocate the necessary space and staff to the strain before initiating import or breeding. You can find an example of a correctly filled out Breeding Plan to the right.