MICALIS Institute's ANAXEM platform joins SAPS!

MICALIS Institute's ANAXEM platform joins SAPS!

The Anaxem experimental unit is an animal facility for rodents and birds, either germ-free or with controlled microbiota, kept in sterile isolators. It provides research teams from Institut Micalis, INRAE and other organizations (academic and private) with animals, infrastructure and technical assistance to carry out protocols on the dialogue between the commensal microbiota and its host.

Anaxem supports research into the interactions between the commensal microbiota and the host in various fields: microbial ecology, immunology, neuroscience, nutrition and food-related diseases, including food-borne infections, allergies and metabolic disorders. Anaxem continuously raises one wild-type rat strain (F344) and two wild-type mouse strains (C3H/HeN, C57BL/6J) under germ-free conditions, while germ-free quail are produced on specific request. A pool of 38 isolators is available for experimental protocols with these germ-free animals, which may be colonized by one or more bacterial strains, or have fecal microbiota transferred from other animals or humans. Anaxem's assistance with experimental protocols ranges from basic technical support for teams with expertise in gnotobiology to in-depth support for teams with little or no expertise in the field (e.g. help with experimental design, full protocol implementation, etc.).