CMP > Training Resources

The University of Missouri Comparative Medicine Training Program is based in the Office of Animal Resources (OAR) and the Research Animal Diagnostic Laboratory (RADIL). The OAR is a unit in the MU Office of Research and the RADIL is a unit in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology. Furthermore, through the College of Veterinary Medicine, trainees have access to a wealth of expertise in a variety of veterinary disciplines (i.e. surgery, pathology, ophthalmology, internal medicine). The Office of Animal Resources serves the needs of approximately 300 investigators with over 640 animal care and use protocols. Over 23,000 animals are housed in 12 animal facilities totaling almost 100,000 square feet of space and four local farms in Colleges and Schools of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Agriculture, and Biological Sciences and in the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center. Species of animals include rodents, rabbits, dogs, swine, African Clawed frogs, zebra fish and "exotic" species including bats and opossums. In addition to conventional animal housing space for nearly any species, there are specialized suites and rooms for housing animals exposed to infectious microorganisms, radioisotopes, or toxic chemicals, and for breeding colonies of SPF rodents. Surgery facilities for aseptic animal surgery and postoperative recovery also are available. The School of Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, and Division of Biological Sciences are AAALAC-accredited which attests to the high level of commitment MU has to the humane care and use of laboratory animals. At the OAR, trainees are active participants in surgeries, veterinary care, health monitoring programs, model development, investigator consultation, facility design and inspection, and protocol review for the MU Animal Care and Use Committee. The Research Animal Diagnostic Laboratory is a preeminent laboratory animal diagnostic laboratory that receives over 250 necropsy accessions / week. Trainee activities in the RADIL include coordination of necropsy accessions, animal necropsy, interpretation of results from MU RADIL parasitology, microbiology, serology and molecular biology laboratories, sectioning of tissues and biopsies for histopathologic examination, interpretation of histologic sections, preparation of reports and consultation with submitting veterinarians, scientists or facility managers. Trainees are exposed to a broad range of cases from many species of animals ranging from genetically engineered rodents to primates to amphibians and reptiles. The MU RADIL laboratories provide a window to the many contemporary problems and questions that face the laboratory animal community. This has lead to development of a number of student research projects involving discovery and characterization of novel emerging disease causing agents, development of diagnostic tests and development of new animal models for human disease. The University of Missouri RADIL as part of a consortium with Harlan Sprague Dawley, Inc. has also been awarded funding from the National Institutes of Health to support one of four newly established Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Centers and the only Rat Resource and Research Center.  These centers will serve as repositories for cryopreservation and production of genetically engineered mouse (GEM) and rat strains. In addition, the University of Missouri will conduct research aimed at improving the efficiency of phenotypic and genotypic characterization of genetically engineered animals and infectious disease monitoring. Other: Trainees have access to up-to-date personal computers in research laboratories and trainee offices. All computers are networked to provide access to medical literature searches, electronic mail, electronic journal subscriptions, statistical analysis programs, the campus mainframe computer, and the Internet. Most computers are equipped with software for word processing, data analysis, presentation preparation, graphics, literature and reference organization, statistics and image capture and analysis. Researchers at the University of Missouri also have grants with the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) through which the Genetics Computer Group (GCG) software can be accessed for DNA and protein sequence analysis. Acquisition of scientific literature is possible through any of the four campus library facilities, through faculty subscriptions to hard copy and electronic journals and through an interlibrary loan service.