CPL is an integral part of the Division of Comparative Medicine (DCM) and has four primary functions:
- To provide comparative pathology services in support of the veterinary care, quarantine and surveillance programs of the Division;
- To make the services of the laboratory available to investigators within or outside MIT on a fee-for-service basis;
- To participate in the research activities of the Division relative to animal care and disease control;
- To participate in the formal and informal teaching programs conducted within the Division.
CPL is equipped to provide many "in house" technical services including microbiology (bacteriology, mycology, virology, parasitology), clinical pathology (hematology, clinical chemistry, urinalysis), molecular biology and serology. It also utilizes outside reference laboratories to further support its mission. CPL also incorporates a complete necropsy/histology service which includes the expertise of a board-certified veterinary pathologist.
For veterinary care (clinical/diagnostic cases), we do not accept requests directly from an investigator (see below for CPL Support to the MIT Research Community). Investigators must contact a DCM veterinary staff member to arrange for CPL services for evaluating health problems in their animals. The clinical veterinarian, in consultation with the investigator, will determine the scope of the problem, initiate whatever corrective measures are required, and submit the appropriate samples to the laboratory for evaluation. This very important and mandatory chain of communication ensures that the veterinary staff is cognizant of animal health problems and precludes the inadvertent spread of infectious disease to other animals.
Required Laboratory Requests
DCM veterinary technicians or clinical veterinarians must fill out the “Orchard Request for Laboratory Service” in Orchard LIS for any microbiology/clinical pathology/serology or molecular biology requests.
DCM veterinary technicians or clinical veterinarians must fill out the “Pathology submission form” located on the MIT-DCM SharePoint for necropsy or histology submission.
Both requests for service require specific and important information to be filled in for contacting the investigator and tracking the animal(s) in question. Required information includes:
- PI name and account #
- Animal identification number (if any), species, breed or strain, sex and age
- Information regarding the origin of the animal, (e.g., vendor, outside institution, in-house breeding colony), date of arrival at MIT/WIBR, and housing location (building and room number).
This information ensures that results/reports generated by the comparative pathology laboratory are properly identified to the investigator and provides necessary animal-related information for interpretation of laboratory data and the tracking of animals back to their source for health monitoring purposes.
In addition, the pathology submission form requires a concise but complete history of any animals/tissues submitted including treatments, and/or experimental procedures the animal has been subjected to prior to the occurrence of the problem observed in the animal or colony of animals in question. This information is critical for the veterinary pathologist to make an accurate interpretation of any findings observed.
Laboratory reports are sent directly to the veterinarian responsible for a case as soon as the work is completed. The clinician will evaluate the data, contact the investigator, and discuss the result of the report and next steps, if any, with the investigator.
CPL Support to the MIT Research Community
The resources of the CPL are available to MIT investigators on a fee-for-service basis in support of their own research projects. In addition, DCM welcomes the opportunity for collaborative efforts. Individuals wishing to utilize CPL should contact the following groups to request services and inquire about fees.
- For pathology service and consultation contact: DCM Pathology
- For Diagnostic Laboratory requests and questions, contact: Diagnostic Lab
- For Histology Laboratory requests and questions contact: Histology Lab
At present CPL does not offer routine necropsy services to investigators outside of DCM but can provide veterinary pathology expertise and training to investigators and/or lab members in tissue collection or other endpoints needed to perform their research.
It is important to make these arrangements well in advance, to ensure that the laboratory has the necessary materials, supplies and staffing to accommodate the request.
Participation in Division Educational Programs
The personnel of the CPL contribute their expertise and technical skills to the various teaching programs offered by the Division of Comparative Medicine.
