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Overview

The Emory Pediatric Animal Physiology Core (AP Core) is a centralized resource specializing in survival surgery for rats and mice and assistance for surgical procedures in other species. The AP Core provides the following services:

  • Acute and Survival Surgeries
  • Imaging
  • Data Analysis
  • Training
  • Protocol Development

Here are the resources and instruments available to our investigators and their labs:

Watch the FUJIFILM VisualSonics Webinar on High-Resolution Ultrasound and Photoacoustics Imaging for Preclinical Research to learn more.

Other equipment includes:

  • Small animal ventilators
  • Cautery
  • Temperature monitoring
  • Anesthesia system
  • Dissecting microscopes

The AP Core is located in room 260 of the Emory-Children’s Center. For scheduling or training requests, see our user guide. Please email Ming Shen if you have any questions or want to request an assisted service. 

  1. Create a PPMS account by completing a new user account creation form
  2. After creating a PPMS account, submit a new project creation form
  3. Technical Director will reach out to schedule a free 30-minute consultation to discuss your project and determine the cost.
  4. When the proposal is approved, users can book services on PPMS. Please refer to our welcome guide for more information.
  5. Click here to book services on the AP Core PPMS page.

Pricing (effective October 2022)

  • ​Animal Surgery: $87 per hour (assisted service) 
  • Surgical set-up/clean-up: $53 (Applies to all surgeries. Charged once per day regardless of the number of surgeries)
  • Ultrasound: $120 per hour (self-service)  
  • Ultrasound: $153 per hour (assisted service) 
  • Analysis: $34 per hour (self-service)
  • Analysis: $67 per hour (full service)
  • Consultation/Training: $33 per hour

Training for independent equipment use, or the development of a new procedure, is provided for all users who are active users of the Animal Physiology Core.  A maximum of three hours can be billed at a reduced training rate.  Any usage beyond three hours will be billed based on published rates.

Subsidy Policy

Generous subsidies are offered for those investigators who are actively engaging in Pediatric research.  Please contact Dr. David Archer to determine eligibility.  The maximum 2022 subsidy per investigator is set at $5,000.  

Citing the Animal Physiology Core - All users

The Animal Physiology Core is generously supported by Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University. When presenting or publishing work completed using the core, please include "Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University's Pediatric Animal Physiology Core " in the acknowledgments.

To determine if you should use “Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta” in your author affiliations, please see the guidelines here.

If your project utilizes the core ultrasound services and equipment (including the Vevo LAZR system), please include the text below. Please do not use this for studies that do not utilize the ultrasound.

"This study was supported in part by the Animal Physiology Core, which is subsidized by Emory University and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.  Additional support was provided by the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number S10OD021748. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the official views of the National Institutes of Health."

The Pediatric Animal Physiology Core is a centralized resource specializing in survival surgery for rats and mice in addition to assistance with other USDA regulated animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs and piglets. The core director assists all investigators with development of IACUC protocols. Surgical services currently offered by the Core include pulmonary banding in rat and neonatal rabbit, aortic banding, myocardial infarction  5/6th nephrectomy for chronic kidney disease, liver-ischemia reperfusion and ultrasound guided injection ideally suited for targeted drug or cell therapy delivery. The Core also has available for use a Visualsonics Vevo 3100 High Frequency Ultrasound system that allows high resolution small animal ultrasound examinations for noninvasive measurement of in vivo structure and function. The Core Technical Director has been extensively trained in ultrasound techniques with many years’ experience thereby increasing reliability and reproducibility of imaging data. Studies can either be conducted in an assisted fashion or investigators can reserve the equipment and utilize their own laboratory personnel.