Introduction

The laboratory animal center began operations in 2000 with a small conventional breeding room for laboratory mice in the Tehran Zafaraniyeh neighborhood. This department plays a very important and key role in conducting clinical research at Royan Research Institute by providing general services such as maintenance, breeding, and production of laboratory animals and specialized services including performing various surgeries, paraclinical services (radiology, ultrasound), modeling of various diseases and specialized training of students and supervision of compliance with the ethical principles of working on laboratory animals. In May 2020, this center managed to obtain the ISO 9001:2015 certificate and also successfully passed the first care audit in June 2021.
This center has five different units where different species of animals are kept and bred:

Laboratory Rodent & Lagomorph Research Unit in Tehran
Non-Human Primate Research Unit in Jajrood and Loghman Hospital in Tehran
Farm Animal Research Unit in Haljerd-Karaj
Laboratory rodent reproduction and breeding unit in Haljerd-Karaj
Transgenic bird production, breeding, and breeding unit in Haljerd-Karaj

Major Activities
In each of these departments, the following general and specialized services are offered to various researchers and students:

Management of production, breeding and maintenance, according to the needs of each creature and in order to provide the best living conditions (proper nutrition, weather, biological facilities)
Providing specialized veterinary clinical and paraclinical services including clinical examinations, disease diagnosis and supportive treatment solutions
Production of various animal models by various surgical and non-surgical (pharmaceutical) methods, including: model of heart attack and stroke, urinary incontinence, diabetes, Parkinson's, fatty liver, rheumatoid arthritis, skin and kidney transplantation, simulated vein transplantation in rats and etc.
Cooperation and consultation in the field of creating all kinds of animal models with all kinds of surgical and non-surgical (pharmacological) methods.
Educating people by publishing books and catalogs and holding theoretical and practical workshops
Providing technical services for working with animals, including: surgery, anesthesia, blood sampling, injections, tying, easy pulling, etc.
Providing advice on the construction and equipping of laboratories and animal breeding halls
Providing advice on research related to laboratory animals
The existence of an animal cell and tissue bank with the approach of storing reproductive cells and tissues in different strains of laboratory rodents, farm animals, and endangered animals
Providing frozen and non-frozen samples such as: eggs, follicles, embryos, ovarian tissue, and testicular tissue
Production of different mouse strains including: C57BL/6, dba2, C3H, FVB/N, MTK, C57W, BALB/C, SW, NMRI, NIH, CD1, B6D2, Nub6, NUbl, and rats: Wistar, Sprague Dawley, Razi Razi to present to different research centers
Creating facilities for keeping laboratory animals for different projects that do not have the possibility of proper keeping
Production and presentation of goat and sheep embryos
Production of sperm and its presentation in both frozen and warm forms in different breeds of goats and sheep for artificial insemination in these animals.
Artificial insemination and embryo transfer in goats and sheep using laparotomy and laparoscopy system
Perform a pet scan
Performing complex surgeries in monkeys such as: brain biopsy, brain biopsy, placing electrodes in the brain, placing head pos in the skull, transplanting cells to the brain in the Parkinson's model
Investigating learning and memory activities in primates and laboratory animals
Production and sale of GFP+ green mice, pdx1 and nvidia mice
Production and sale of serum from rats, mice, rabbits
Production of rodent ration with modified formula
Studying and reviewing research projects inside and outside Royan Institute
Production and sale of covid SA mice
Preparation of fifty-two monkey collars for the production of Ku Barkat vaccine by Biosan Pharmed Company
Dispatch of volunteers to the Corona molecular diagnosis laboratory located in Zafaraniyeh

Researchers and Research Assistants of Laboratory Animal Center

* Ehsan Mirsadeghi (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Profession)
* Abolfazl Khimeh (Master of Veterinary Histology)
* Alireza Nemati (Bachelor of Veterinary Laboratory Sciences)
* Zahra Sadat Ghasemi (Master of Development)
* Reza Bagharpour (Associate of Veterinary Medicine)
* Farhad Mostafaei (Bachelor of Veterinary Laboratory Sciences)

Other Colleagues

* Ali Inanloo
* Bahram Behrouzi
* Yadollah Javadi
* Farshid Doudaman Doost
* Mojtaba Karimpour
* Asghar Naderi
* Salman Shirmohammadi
* Masoud Boudlaei