UKM Animal Care Lab Lepak

After Subuh, Ayah knocked on the door asking if I would go out for breakfast with him. I said yes and found myself WhatsApp-ing over a glass of Teh-O-Ais-Limau while waiting for ayah to complete his 3 round jog around the park nearby. We had a hearty breakfast and I thought of following Ayah to work because he had some new mice coming in today which needed attending to in the evening.

After a few DotA games, Ayah was already ready, we drove to UKM and proceeded to the Animal Care Laboratory somewhere deep in UKM. Ayah said the Animal Care Laboratory and Animal Research Laboratory must be located far from human contact to ensure none of the diseases or ailments tested here can spread to human beings.

Actually I was kind of lucky today because Ayah got a new officer, so he had to show her around the facility that day to get her accustomed to the things going on there.

And as the standard operating procedure set by Ayah himself(yes, he's in charge of the Animal Labs around here -_-') To enter the animal chambers, every single person must undergo decontamination, meaning we had to take a bath and change into sterilised lab apparel. And he told me I had to take off everything, and by everything he meant EVERYTHING!

At first i was surprised because what I had in mind was

But then I found out that the bundle of lab apparel i got included a sterilised boxer.So yeah, confidence RESTORED!

So i then changed from

Before

After

le clothing in box

 So the lab was separated into 2 wings, the forst one we entered was the breeding chamber where there are 4 small rooms. In these rooms are racks filled with small containers with different rodents. There are the Balb-C mice and ICR mice (you can't distinguish them both physically cuz they're only different genetically) and there are also hamsters(CUUUTTEE!). Oh not to forget huge white rats with red eyes(but seriously they're cute...until they're tested or dissected).

And in the other wing is the research wing where PhD and Masters students do research on these rodents. among them are tissue culture where you grow human organs on mice or rats. Or you test cures of cancer on hairless mice or Nude Mice as Ayah called them.

And believe me when i asked how much does a mice cost, I can't believe it when he said they cost RM50.00 each. I mean, a 10 gram mice for RM50. But then I knew why they were so dang expensive. You see.

Cage               : imported from USA
Food               : imported from Australia
Corn Bedding  : imported from Egypt
Water              : filtered 3 times, then boiled at 121 degrees
Air                   : controlled air conditioning, filtered air, filtering maintained monthly(the air they breathe is
                          VERY clean)

So yeah,they get treated like kings before beig tested upon,verrryy epic.