The Rodent Platform operates in the CF central Vivarium, a 2,000 square meter facility area supporting all animal experimentation conducted under CF Research Programs.

The design, construction and operations comply with international best practices and national and European legislation and guidelines for accommodation, care and experimentation on animals. In particular, the CF Vivarium is licensed by the Portuguese competent authority for animal welfare (DGAV, Direcção Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária), complies with Portuguese law (Decreto-Lei 113/2013) transposed from the European Directive 2010/63, and follows the FELASA (Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations) guidelines and recommendations concerning laboratory animal welfare.

Besides normal husbandry routines, the Rodent Platform staff supports specialized services such as colony management, line genotyping, transgenic generation, rederivation and assisted reproduction techniques.

Importantly, animal care and use is carefully supervised and monitored by the internal Animal Welfare Body (ORBEA in the Portuguese acronym), the Vivarium technicians and the attending veterinarian to ensure that all husbandry, handling and experimental procedures are performed according to suitable and humane techniques. This ensures that, in accordance with the 3Rs, alternatives to animals are used whenever possible, the number of animals is minimized, and any discomfort or pain possibly experienced by the animal are minimized and weighed against the potential benefits for science.