The CPL provides gross necropsy and histopathology services tailored for the diagnosis of spontaneous or infectious diseases in laboratory animals, with an emphasis on Mice and Rats. These services include colony health surveillance, problem-oriented examination, and pathology interpretation. Consultation on experimental pathology procedures, such as post-mortem sample harvest, or organ perfusion is also provided.
University of California, Davis
About the CPL
The Comparative Pathology laboratory is the research animal diagnostic laboratory for UC Davis. It provides a complete range of diagnostic and veterinary medical services for the animals used in teaching and research with an emphasis on mice and rats. The services include anatomic pathology evaluation, clinical chemistry panels and evaluation, hematology determinations with analysis, parasitology examinations, bacterial and fungal identification, serology and polymerase chain reaction diagnostics for laboratory animal diseases. In addition, the Polyclonal Antibody Production program provides technical service (antigen injections and serum collection) for investigators. These services are provided to the faculty, staff, and students working with research animals in the UC system and other academic institutions, and private research/biotechnical facilities using animals. As a part of these services, the laboratory also directs, performs, and collaborates in specific investigational studies pertaining to diagnostic methodology, spontaneous diseases of experimental animals, disease treatment and control strategies, and animal models of human disease.
Staff and Training
The CPL staff consists of two Laboratory Animal Veterinarians [Diplomate ACLAM], Two Veterinary Comparative Medicine Pathologists, six Medical Technologists, two Staff research associates, two administrative assistants and a quality assurance analyst. In addition, undergraduate, graduate and veterinary medical students routinely conduct internships in the laboratory.
Facilities and Services
The CPL is located in building R-1 within the Armstrong Tract, south of I-80. Functional areas include a main laboratory with purpose-allocated bench space, two Necropsy rooms with down-draft tables, pathology review room containing a multi-head microscope with photographic capability, library and archives, a central reception area, and conference room.
