The National Laboratory Animal Center (NLAC) is a research institute in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

which is part of the

National Applied Research Laboratories The National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs; ) is a research institution in Taiwan resulted from the combination of national laboratories into an independent nonprofit institute. It is located in Taipei. History NARLabs was establishe ...

History

The National Laboratory Animal Center was established in 1994 as the first large scale domestic supplier of

specific pathogen free Specific-pathogen-free (SPF) is a term used for laboratory animals that are guaranteed free of particular pathogens. Use of SPF animals ensures that specified diseases do not interfere with an experiment. For example, absence of respiratory pathog ...

(SPF) laboratory rodents. In June 2003 it was brought under the umbrella of the National Applied Research Laboratories. NLAC supports Taiwan's biomedical industry. In 2015 NLAC succeeded in breeding their first advanced severe immuno deficiency (ASID) mouse which they established a commercial line off of. The mice cost NT$3,000 to produce which was a significant savings over imported mice from the US and Japan which cost between NT$15,000 and NT$30,000.

Facilities

In 2019 NLAC inaugurated a new NT$2 billion (US$64.64 million) research center built in Taipei's

National Biotechnology Research Park The National Biotechnology Research Park () is an industrial park in Nangang District, Taipei, Taiwan. History The area where the industrial park stands today used to be the site for the 202nd arsenal of Ministry of National Defense. Later on ...

. As well as being a research center the new facility also serves as a repository for the fertilized eggs of rare mice. As of 2019 the repository held 830,000 fertilized eggs. NLAC operates a preclinical testing lab at the

Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park The Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park (HBSP; ) is an industrial park in Zhubei City, Hsinchu County, Taiwan which is part of the Hsinchu Science Park. History The project for the establishment of the science park was approved by the Executive Yua ...

and a preclinical animal care and surgery facility at the

Southern Taiwan Science Park The Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP; ) is a science park established by the government of Taiwan. It consists of Tainan Science Park and Kaohsiung Science Park , covering and , respectively. Overview The science park was first proposed at an ...

References

{{reflist 1994 establishments in Taiwan Research institutes in Taiwan Biological research institutes Animal testing on rodents