Harlan Laboratories expands South European services facility

Harlan Laboratories, a contract research organisation and research models and services company, has expanded its research production facility in Southern Europe. The expansion allows the company to provide its complete portfolio of contract breeding and health monitoring services to customers in mainland Europe and the UK.

'Expanding our facility in Southern Europe is a significant part of our global growth strategy to provide pharmaceutical and biotech companies throughout Europe with the highest quality services that support their research models,' said Joe Meyer, Vice President of Global Commercial Operations, Harlan Laboratories. 'The expansion of our contract breeding and health monitoring services facility reinforces Harlan Laboratories' commitment to provide researchers around the globe with critical services that ensure the specialised models they use in their research will produce reliable and consistent results.'

The Southern European operations have been designed to mirror Harlan's contract breeding service capabilities in the UK. These services include rederivation, cryopreservation, revitalisation, colony management, contract breeding and quarantine services.

The enhanced facility includes dedicated areas for quarantine to reduce the transmission of pathogens between animal colonies and also features an expanded and updated health monitoring laboratory.

In addition, the company has incorporated the LabTracks software system by Locus Technology, which provides a fully integrated animal husbandry network that supports real-time inventory data, records on cryopreserved materials, as well as information on cage capacity and the health status of animals within the facility.

The upgrading of the Southern European facility follows Harlan Laboratories' recent increase of its specialist model production capacity in North America by more than 30% following the expansion of its facilities in Indianapolis, Indiana and Livermore, California.