Mission Statement:

  LARC's Mission is to:

• Provide quality care for all animals used at the University of California, San Francisco.
• Assist the faculty in their mission of quality research with respect to the use of laboratory animals.
• Act as a resource center for the faculty on all issues relating to laboratory animals.
• Assist the University to meet its goal of humane treatment of laboratory animals.

The Laboratory Animal Resource Center (LARC) of the University of California, San Francisco is administratively part of the Office of Research Services in the Research unit of the University

UCSF AAALAC Accreditation Site Visit

Every year, UCSF strives to live up to the highest standards for the humane care and use of animals in research. In pursuit of this, UCSF encourages site visits from the private, nonprofit organization known as AAALAC.  AAALAC accreditation is voluntary and involves a comprehensive review by AAALAC evaluators, who are animal care and use professionals and researchers from around the globe.

It is our privilege to report to you that the UCSF animal research program has been independently evaluated, and found to be exceptionally strong.

A six-person site visit team representing AAALAC International conducted a four-day site visit of UCSF’s animal care and use program, concluding with an exit briefing on October 18. Over four days, they thoroughly examined UCSF campus animal facilities and research protocols, and met with lab members, animal care staff, management, safety professionals and many others supporting animal research. The AAALAC team was very impressed with everyone’s knowledge and obvious dedication to ensuring great animal welfare and laboratory safety practices.

The AAALAC Council has reviewed the findings from this site visit and has granted the UCSF Animal Care and Use Program CONTINUED FULL ACCREDITATION.

AAALAC's next site visit to UCSF will occur in the Fall of 2021. We look forward to their visit and hope to continue to meet and exceed AAALAC's standards for excellence in research, animal welfare, and animal care and use.

For further information about AAALAC International, please visit the AAALAC Website.

LARC Per Diem Rate Changes:

LARC has a goal to provide excellent laboratory animal care while keeping our per diem prices as low as possible for the research laboratories of whom we provide care for.

Recent Departmental Publications:

Larry Carbone. 2011. "Pain in Laboratory Animals: The Ethical and Regulatory Imperatives" . PLoS One. September 2011; 6: 9: e21578

Elizabeth T Carbone et al. 2012. "Duration of Action of Sustained-Release Buprenorphine in 2 Strains of Mice"  J. Am. Assoc. for Lab. Animal Science. November 2012; 51 (6): 815-819

Krista E Lindstrom et al. 2011. "Soiled Bedding Sentinels for the Detection of Fur Mites in Mice" . J. Am. Assoc. for Lab. Animal Science. Jan 2011; 50 (1): 54-60

John Parker et al. 2011. "Effects of Multimodal Analgesia on the Success of Mouse EmbryoTransfer surgery". J. Am. Assoc. for Lab. Animal Science. July 2011; 50 (4): 466-470.

Larry Carbone. 2011. "Pain in Laboratory Animals: The Ethical and Regulatory Imperatives" . PLoS One. September 2011; 6: 9: e21578.

Krista E Lindstrom et al. 2018. "Contaminated Shipping Materials Identified as the Source of Rotaviral Infection of Exported Mice". J. Am. Assoc. for Lab. Animal Science. September 2018; 57 (5): 529-533.