Eligibility Criteria for Use of the NIA Aged Rodent Colonies
The NIA has long provided biological resources to the research community to facilitate aging research. As of January 1, 2014, the NIA stopped charging users for the aged rodents and any related shipping fees, which significantly increased the cost to the NIA to maintain this service. As a result, stringent limitations are placed on the distribution of the aged rodents to ensure the continued availability of the animals.
NIA asks that the research community continue to exercise care and restraint when requesting animals from the NIA aged rodent colonies because even a small increase in the number of animals per order will quickly decimate the animal colonies. Questions about eligibility should be sent to Heidi Brogdon.
Who Can Receive Animals
The NIA aged rodent colonies are only available for projects that are directly related to aging and that are funded by grants from the NIH, other U. S. government agencies, and U.S.-based private foundations that fund aging research. Eligibility is NOT based on simply having an NIH grant on a topic related to aging, but rather is based on the funded grant including specific aims that are directly related to aging and that require aged mice or rats. It is recommended that the grant specifically state the intention to obtain aged animals from the NIA aged rodent colonies as well as the ages needed. Contract-funded projects are only eligible if they are funded by the NIA.
How Many Animals Can I Receive?
There is a limit to the number of animals that can be requested for delivery each month (the eligibility limit is based on the delivery date). NIA-funded grants (PDF, 95K) are limited to a total of 20 animals delivered per month per grant. All non-NIA-funded grants are limited to a total of 10 animals delivered every other month per grant.
Only the strain(s) described in the grant can be requested from the NIA colonies. In the interest of fostering scientific rigor and reproducibility as well as to be able to meet the needs of the broader customer base, we are not able to fill orders with animals that are over two months younger or older than what is stated in the grant.
Exceptions
The NIA will consider requests for exceptions to the funding source policy and to the monthly limit restrictions. However, only a very limited number of such requests can be granted, based on scientific need and rodent availability.
Exceptions will be reviewed by the Program Officer overseeing the colonies for scientific relevance and availability of the requested animals. Exceptions must be requested before the order is submitted, using the appropriate form:
- Exception Request Form-Funding Source form (Excel, 11.2K)
- Exception Request Form-Monthly Limit form (Excel, 11.3K)
Requests for exception should be submitted to Heidi Brogdon a week before the order deadline for the desired delivery date, i.e., two weeks before the desired delivery date. The volume of business on the order desk does not allow us to guarantee evaluation of requests for exceptions on a same day basis.