On February 16-17, 2017, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) received the second site re-inspection from the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC). The re-inspection team was composed of two international veterinary experts, Dr. Natividad M. Lood and Dr. Sonja T. Chou. After Site visit, the experts made a comprehensive review and evaluation on the overall conditions of the management and usage of the experimental animals at SIMM.  

Since obtained the first certificate from AAALAC in June 2011, SIMM has devoted to strengthen and optimize the hardware conditions. In addition, a series of trainings about the management and welfare of experimental animals, as well as the occupational health and safety, have been offered to all the experimental staffs yearly, which has improved their technical level and standardized operation consciousness.  

The animal management program and facilities were reviewed and evaluated during the two-day visit. Two experts summarized the assessment results and exchanged views with SIMM deputy director LI Jia, institutional officers, and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) members at the last meeting. The leadership, operation and maintenance of the facilities, experimental animal management and usage system of SIMM were approved by the experts. Meanwhile, the experts put forward several suggestions on the experimental animal management improvement and usage.  

Dr. Natividad M. Lood and Dr.Sonja T. Chou give feedbacks on the re-inspection.(Photo by LI Chuan)

AAALAC experts exchange views with LI Jia，SIMM institutional officers and IACUC members at the meeting (Photo by LI Chuan) 

(Credit: LI Chuan, LI Ming)