Afdeling Molekulêre Biologie & Mensgenetika
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Small Animal Research Facility: in vivoModelling
Experimental animals allow investigation into the immunological mechanisms in disease that would otherwise be impossible to perform in human studies. In this regard, the laboratory mouse serve as an ideal model to investigate immunological features of pre-clinical vaccine/drug tests and pathogenic infections, seeing as they display a similar cellular immune response as observed in humans. The infectious animal laboratory (Bio-safety level-2) is dedicated to creating and maintaining mice for research purposes in a completely germ-free environment, where mice are housed in sterile individual cages to provide researchers an environment which allow experimental infections with no competing background levels of pathogenic colonization. Ethical approval for the use of animals, vaccine/drug tests, performance of experimental infections and procedures are evaluated for approval by the Animal Ethics Committee of the 肆客足球 of Stellenbosch (AEC). We aim to understand how host-pathogen interactions translate into clinical disease. The IRGL uniquely combines expertise in the field of pathogen biology and host immunity to utilize small animal models in order to:
- Investigate molecular pathogenesis of infection biology
- Uncover immunological pathways of communication between pathogen and host
- Analyse host immune responses in diseases
- Safety/immunogenicity of novel drug/vaccine candidates?