The Portuguese Network of Medical Health and Life Sciences Animal Facilities – Pt-Bioterium (www.ptbioterium.org) is a nationwide consortium of 20 institutions, along with 13 AL and 19 R&D units.

The mission is to raise the global benchmark for animal use in pre-clinical (drugs, medical devices) and pathophysiological research on cardiovascular, neurological, oncological, microbiological, and immune diseases. Animal trials to develop products and strategies to maximize animal production, well-being, and environmental sustainability, as well as training of laboratory professionals are also key objectives.

Pt-Bioterium will focus on 5 lines of action aiming at fulfilling the research needs of academia and pharmaceutical industry:

1. Increasing validity and translation value of animal models of disease by maintaining a permanent crosstalk with clinical investigators
   – a broad range of validated animal models of disease, from drosophila to pigs, are available
   – new models, including genetically engineered mice, can be developed and phenotyped according to well-established standardized pipelines (IMPReSS)
2. Multicentre preclinical testing
   – pathophysiology, pharmacokinetics and biodistribution studies are available for a wide range of animal models
   – novel biomedical devices (prototypes) are tested and validated in large animal models
3. Antibody and vaccine production
   – polyclonal antibodies and vaccines production will be enhanced in our GLP laboratories
4. Preservation and biobanking of animal tissues
   – a Biobank platform is available, and a management and requests software is planned for implementation
5. Advanced hands-on training for medical, veterinarian and biomedical professionals
   – Regular organization of workshops and courses on a wide range of surgical techniques (e.g. minimally invasive surgery and endoscopy), as well as FELASA accredited courses on Laboratory Animal Science

Within Pt-Bioterium institutions, there are 90 human resources that maintain the animal facilities, equipment and a solid production of animal models.

However, expansion and amelioration of the present services is in the horizon of the consortium. We plan the expansion of the biobank, the dissemination of GLP and phenotyping pipelines, the augmentation and rejuvenation of the available imaging equipment and the full implementation of the 3R’s goals.

A key objective is internationalization and cooperation with research international infrastructures such as ESFRI (e.g. Infrafrontier) and EFPIA. This will increase the number of external services provided to Pharma, Medical Device manufacturers and Academia. These objectives require a governance structure to coordinate the participants and to maintain a full list of services available to stakeholders.

The Consortium aspires to ambitious funding from European programs. R&D funding offices, with special emphasis put on those integrating the PERIN network will play a critical role in this objective.

PT Bioterium will make a permanent effort to spread a culture of care, and to endorse the international AAALAC accreditation among the consortium partners
The consortium will strategically disseminate its activities and cutting-edge scientific methods and technologies in scientific platforms and in civil society.

Collaboration with Ciência Viva and full ratification of the Transparency Agreement on Animal Research in Portugal, already signed by many of the consortium partners, will increase the global awareness and literacy of the population towards the correct use of laboratory animals.