CIBOR’s Animal Core supports the use of mice, rats, and rabbits for medical device development. The Core operates under the approval and regulations of the Wichita State University IACUC, and all animals are maintained under AAALAC and NIH approved conditions. Specific pathogen free housing is provided, facilitating the use of SCID and nude mice for human tissue chimera studies.

The faculty has been responsible for the development of several novel animal models for biomaterial evaluations, and skilled animal microsurgeons are available for complex implantation procedures. The animal facility works closely with the imaging, biocompatibility, and bioengineering cores to provide a global system to evaluate indwelling devices in animal models.