Aged Rodent Colonies Handbook
NOTICE! Beginning September 1, 2008, the new online Rodent Order System (ROS) is mandatory for submitting orders for NIA rodents. There are no exceptions and our usual deadlines are effective.
The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), maintains colonies of barrier-raised rodents under contractual arrangement with commercial vendors. All colonies are barrier maintained and Specific Pathogen-Free (SPF). Animals from the NIA aged rodent colonies are available to investigators at academic and non-profit research institutions. The NIA aged rodent colonies are a limited resource developed for use in aging research. They are not available for use as a general source of adult animals for unrelated areas of research. Due to limited availability, we currently cannot fill orders from customers who do not hold active NIH funding regardless of whether they have ordered from the NIA colonies in the past. Click here for the new policy on eligibility to use the NIA aged rodent colonies.
New! Health summaries for the NIA aged rodent colonies are now available on the web. Download the health reports for the animals of interest and indicate acceptable barriers in the special instructions section of the order form.
NIA Rodent Colony Health Summaries
Please Note: Due to the volume of business handled by the Order Desk, it is imperative that submitted order forms be completely and correctly filled out (all fields completed). Incomplete order forms will be returned. We can only offer following week delivery for those orders for which completed order forms are received by the deadline of Tuesday noon, Eastern time.
Beginning in late 2005 or early 2006, rodents will be provided under contracts with three different contractors – Harlan Sprague Dawley, Inc. (Harlan), Taconic Farms, Inc (Taconic), and Charles River Laboratories (CRL). Information on the source of specific strains and ages is provided in the Location of Colonies section and up-dates will be posted on our website as more information becomes available.
