Spring Valley Laboratories, Inc. (SVL) of Maryland has served the research community since 1980 as a contract laboratory animal facility. The company specializes in the conduct of non-clinical, Good Laboratory Practices (GLP)-regulated safety studies, GLP/GMP in vivo product release tests, the derivation and maintenance of animal breeding colonies, the production of custom antibodies, and the development of animal models for human disease research. Our client list includes major universities, research institutions, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and the NIH. Spring Valley’s facility is operated with strict confidentiality policies to protect SVL and client proprietary information.
Spring Valley has 10 years of experience contracting with vaccine, pharmaceutical and medical device manufactures to conduct GLP submissions. These studies have included single and repeat dose toxicity, local, local tolerance, reproductive and developmental toxicity, biodistribution, and ocular and skin irritation evaluations. These studies have been conducted in rabbits, rats, mice ferrets, guinea pigs, and mini pigs. In addition to involving a variety of substances, including live BSL-2 organisms, these studies have required different routes of substance administration and methods of blood collection. Spring Valley has been qualified by the NIH as a vendor for the conduct of GLP-regulated safety and efficacy evaluations of candidate HIV DNA vaccines.
For 24 years, Spring Valley has supplied the research community with custom polyclonal antibody services using a variety of animal species including mouse, rat, rabbit, guinea pig, ferret, sheep and goat. Client-specific protocols have been used as well as SVL-developed standard immunization protocols. Peptide conjugation, antibody titer analysis via ELISA, and antibody purification from serum are available. Peptide sequence analysis and synthesis are also available. Further extension of custom polyclonal services includes performing immunogenicity and efficacy studies in rats, mice and rabbits for large and small pharmaceutical companies.
Spring Valley has worked with several academic and commercial organizations to develop and use animal models of inherited or infections human diseases. Spring Valley completed a 15-year NIH contract involving the maintenance and testing of an SPF (barrier reared) human transgenic (CD4+) rabbit animal model for use in HIV and HTLV-1 therapeutic testing. This colony was maintained behind a BSL2/3 barrier. SVL now maintains its own colonies of these animals for use by the research community. SVL has assisted clients in developing and/or using animal models for other infectious agents including Influenza and Vaccinia, viruses, Staphylococcus aureus and Chlamydia.
Experience – Staff
Collectively, Spring Valley’s highly trained staff of Board-certified veterinarians, PhD and Masters-level scientists as well as AALAS-certified technicians and technologists have many years of experience managing animal colonies and performing various procedures on live animals. Spring Valley encourages and provides resources for staff to continually obtain additional training, including AALAS certification at job-appropriate levels. SVL has an extensive set of standard operating procedures (SOP’s) that cover all aspects of animal care, animal procedures, equipment operation and facility operation.
Experience-Technical
In addition to the standard husbandry and health assessment procedures performed by any animal facility (feeding, watering, changing cages, blood collection, tooth/nail trimming, weighing, temperature recording, veterinary care), the following capabilities exist at Spring Valley:
Facilities:
Spring Valley Laboratories, Inc. has been accredited fully and continuously by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal (AAALAC) since 1989. The FDA has audited SVL, and a copy of resultant 483s is available upon request. The company operates in full accordance with the Animal Welfare Act (USDA, APHIS registration number, 51-R-051), the PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory
Animals (OLAW Assurance Number, A3731-01) and the NRC Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. SVL facilities consist of 24,000 square feet of animal housing, support, and laboratory space securely situated in a one hundred acre campus. There is conventional (8,000 sq. ft.) and specific pathogen free (14,000) square feet) of housing and support space for mice, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets, hamsters, and mini pigs as well as a barn for housing sheep, goats and other large animals. Support spaces include a surgical suite with recovery room, intensive care area, designated test article storage and preparation areas, laboratories for clinical pathology, specimen analysis, necropsy, pathology and secure access-controlled archives. Quarterly health screening is performed for all species in the SPF facility. Animals may be transferred to SVL from other facilities with proof of acceptable health status.
A facility monitoring system continuously senses security status and environmental conditions as well as refrigerator, freezer and incubator temperatures. In the event of a power failure, an automatic backup electrical generator supplies all the electrical needs of the entire facility Redundant HVAC systems automatically engage when needed.
Spring Valley Laboratories, Inc. is driven to provide high quality, flexible, customized and cost-effective research and development solutions to our clients. Please contact us to discuss your particular needs. Let us help you.