Pharmaceutical Research Facility
The Texas A&M Health Science Center Irma Lerma Rangel School of Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Research Facility is fully accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC).
The PRF provides technical and veterinary support for all educational and research projects utilizing laboratory animals. The PRF encompasses animal housing areas and special use areas such as treatment rooms, procedural laboratories, surgery suites, and barrier rodent housing rooms. The staff provides animal husbandry, facility sanitation, animal welfare training, and study support duties.
The facility also includes two additional biosafety suites approved for use by the Texas A&M Institutional Biosafety Committee. The suites provide storage, laboratory, and animal housing space for biosafety level 2 activities.
Hours of Operation
PRF administrative offices are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and are closed on weekends and scheduled university holidays. Animal care is provided seven days a week/365 days a year (366 days if a leap year), and a duty supervisor and veterinarian are on call 24 hours a day.
Facility Access and Security
Access to PRF buildings is given to Texas A&M personnel who conduct business in the facility on a routine basis. The PRF remains locked at all times and requires swipe card access. Access to the PRF animal facilities requires authorization through PRF administration. Authorization processes are described in the section below.
Acquiring Authorization for Access to PRF
- To acquire card access to PRF, personnel must complete and submit a PRF access request form and attend a PRF new user orientation. The access request forms are available below.
To ensure adequate security for all animals, only authorized personnel can access the facility. Access cards and keys should NOT be shared.
- Orientations are scheduled bi-weekly. Once a request form is submitted to prffacility@tamu.edu orientation attendance will be either scheduled or verified.
Authorization for card access will not be given until after PRF new user orientation has been completed and access clearance is verified.
Billing
Investigators are charged for services, supplies, and animal care on a monthly basis. Animal care charges, animal purchase charges, special services and supply purchases are itemized on each statement.
Animal care charges are automatically formulated using bar-coded cage cards. The billing for new animals starts on the day the animals arrive at PRF or anytime a new cage is created. The billing for an individual cage ceases when the cage card is deactivated. Please refer to Bar-coded cage cards and per diem charges below for detailed information. For questions concerning accounts please contact prffacility@tamu.edu
Per Diem Rates
A list of the current per diem charges can be acquired from the PRF administrative offices are found here
Animal care charges in PRF maintained facilities are automatically formulated using computerized cage cards (e.g. bar-coded cage cards). This system requires cooperation and coordination from both PRF personnel and investigative staff to ensure accurate billing.
Deletion from the investigator’s billing inventory is the sole responsibility of the investigator and/or the investigative staff. If a card is active in the system, PRF will continue to bill for the cage of animals.
PRF performs a daily census to verify the number of cages or animals being billed. At this time missing animals or cages are identified. Census is conducted Monday through Friday between 7:00am to 10:00am.
Animal Orders
In order to assure compliance with federal regulations, ALL non-agricultural use research / teaching animals must be purchased through (or in coordination with) PRF. A current, approved Texas A&M University animal use protocol form (AUP) is required before animal orders can be processed. AUP approval will be verified before animals are ordered and animals will not be ordered unless housing space is available.
PRF personnel will assist investigators in locating specific strains, stocks, or breeds of animals. PRF personnel will verify the health status of animals provided by vendors and insure order information is complete.
Investigators must complete an animal order form for ALL animal acquisitions. The animal order form is available through the PRF website.
Forms
Room Scheduling