Veterinary Services

Consultation with investigators in the planning of research proposals and the evaluation of ongoing protocols is a key component of the Veterinary Services. The veterinary staff also provides a pre-review of all animal care and use protocols, discusses them with the investigators and advises the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of any concerns with the procedures. To document this consultation, the IACUC has adopted a Veterinary Consultation Form that must be uploaded with every Animal Component of a Research Protocol (ACORP) submission. E-mail the consultation form (with sections A and B completed) along with your ACORP, any appendices or other required materials to VetConsult@luc.edu. Do NOT e-mail the veterinarian directly. A vet will review your application and e-mail you the completed consultation form. Allow 5 business days (1 week) for the ACORP review, in order to schedule an appointment with a member of the veterinary staff. 

Clinical Medicine Service is also provided by Veterinary Services via the Veterinary Care Team. The Clinical Medicine service is responsible for the daily management of preventive and diagnostic medicine programs, animal clinical observations, and the postoperative tracking program. The Veterinary Care Team is comprised of the veterinarians and the Laboratory Animal Health Technicians. The service also provides support to research programs in that many projects create conditions that are either managed solely by this unit on a fee-for-service basis or in consultation with the investigator and their staff in which case the veterinary responsibility is one of consultation, training and oversight.

Another component of Veterinary Services is the surgical support service. The Surgical Support Service provides technical support for the investigators. This support includes working with investigators in designing and implementing anesthetic and surgical protocols, planning the postoperative care program and day-to-day management of CMF's centralized surgical suite. The surgical staff work under the supervision of a veterinarian and provide animal preparation, induction and monitoring of basic and special anesthesia, technical assistance during surgery and management of the initial phase of the postoperative care program. The veterinary care team can also provide surgical support for investigators who do not have surgical experience or when appropriate, arrange the necessary training. The surgical suite has two well-equipped surgical rooms for survival or non-survival surgical procedures. Complete instrument packs and a variety of support equipment are available. To obtain more information on the Surgical Support Service, or to schedule a surgery, contact CMFVeterinaryCareTeam@luc.edu. 

Diagnostic radiology is also available through the surgical service.  We provide digital imaging using X-ray with immediate viewing service (Versa-View, EPX-F2800 system) included ultrasonography/echocardiography (ultrasound SonoScape S2 portable digital color Doppler ultrasound /echo cardiographer system) and digital rodent and dental radiographs (Aribex Nomad PRO 2 and Scan - X) are available.  To schedule the use of imaging equipment, contact CMFVeterinaryCareTeam@luc.edu. 

Optical Imaging - In Vivo Imaging System (IVIS) can be used for noninvasive longitudinal monitoring of disease progression, cell trafficking, and gene expression patterns in live mice. Optical imaging utilizes high sensitivity in vivo imaging of bioluminescent and fluorescent reporters. A Xenogen IVIS Spectrum (VivoVision IVIS 100) and Caliper IVIS Spectrum with integrated gas anesthesia machines are available. Please contact Edward Campbell ext. 63345 or ecampbell@luc.edu to schedule the use of the Xenogen IVIS Spectrum (VivoVision IVIS 100), located in the CTRE and Steven Kregel ext.72431 or skregel@luc.edu for the Caliper IVIS Spectrum and Jiwang Zhang for the irradiator, located in the Cancer Center Core Facility.

Rodent Breeding Services is also available through Veterinary Services. Rodent breeding colonies are managed by trained and experienced personnel and include mating (in consultation with investigator), weaning, record keeping, sampling for DNA analysis (as determined by the investigator), marking of animals for identification, analysis of breeding problems (e.g. related to genotype), and euthanasia of retired breeders and unwanted animals (as determined by DNA analysis). Breeding colonies are housed in designated animal rooms limited to scheduled access only, their ID is not encoded The investigator receives regular reports that include breeding performance, number of litters born, number of animals weaned, and the number and age of stock animals available for experiments. Animals for experiments are relocated to the investigator’s experimental animal housing room. To arrange for a consultation regarding management of rodent breeding colonies contact cmfinfo@luc.edu.