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About Us
Our Mission
We provide innovative rodent caging systems for the life-science industry. Animal Care Systems products are designed to safeguard the well-being of both the animals and their handlers.
The Company
Animal Care Systems has been producing our innovative rodent racks since 2000. Starting with the revolutionary M.I.C.E. System, ACS has been developing and marketing unique rodent housing solutions ever since. Our line of rodent racks now includes the M.I.C.E., OptiMICE, ErgoMICE, and OptiRAT systems. CEO Steve Tierney and his Animal Care Systems team are committed to manufacturing rodent caging systems that save energy and provide optimum living conditions for research animals, as well as a healthier environment for their handlers.
Founded in 1997 by Germain F. Rivard, DVM, PhD, Animal Care Systems is the first caging systems company in the industry founded by a veterinarian with experience in directing AAALAC-accredited animal care & use programs. His experience with animal facility planning, design and management produced the construction of the first Gene Transfer Technologies Training Center and Rodent Barrier Facility for genetically altered mouse colonies. Since acquiring Animal Care Systems from Dr. Rivard in 2001, the company has invested heavily in research and development to bring even better rodent caging to the life science industry.
Animal Care Systems offices and manufacturing facility
"I stepped down from my directorship because I was feeling miserable about the way we were keeping mice in the lab. My techs were sick and tired of changing cages, and I was always running out of space even though I had large rooms. Also, just like my peers, I disliked static and ventilated small isolation caging systems for the poor air quality and the bad air ventilation they provided to the mice. I decided to invent a completely new, cost-effective system that resolved all those problems.
It is an institutional responsibility to provide the best living conditions. The better the environment, the better the health of the animals and the research workers. The more isolated and contained the mice are, the more protection they have. The less we touch the mice, the less risk that we compromise their health and the quality of the research," states Dr. Rivard.
This led to his invention of the M.I.C.E.® closed-system housing system. This initial breakthrough into laboratory animal housing with a technically superior product was the genesis of ACS. Armed with the knowledge that institutional customers had few alternatives for taking full advantage of the higher performance and cost savings inherent in closed-system housing, ACS developed an alternative - M.I.C.E.®. All the needs of end-users were addressed through validation by computer modeling, anemometry, wind tunnel, and smoke tests as well as comprehensive animal studies. ACS is the only manufacturing company founded by a scientist and user of animal caging/housing equipment. We are uniquely qualified to understand the needs of the life science community.
The eagerly awaited follow-up to the highly successful OptiMICE® was introduced in 2007. The OptiRAT® system is the logical follow-up to the OptiMICE. With a much larger cage but using the same patented ventilation technology in an identical rack footprint, the OptiRAT provides all the same benefits to animals and users as the OptiMICE and the M.I.C.E. system before it. In production for nearly two years, it provides a synergistic mate to the OptiMICE in facilities that house both mice and rats.
All Animal Care Systems racks use the same patented ventilation technology to completely eliminate allergens and odors, and continue the energy saving tradition of zero electrical consumption with no motors or blowers. Contact Animal Care Systems for more details on this and other members of our product line.
For a historical perspective on the M.I.C.E.® System written by its inventor, please read:
Dr. Rivard (left) and Rich VanDewater Director
of Sales For Animal Care Systems
Animal Care Systems is a member of:
- The American Association for Laboratory Animal Science - National and Mile High Branches (AALAS)
- American Society of Laboratory Animal Practitioners (ASLAP)
- American Veterinary Medicine Association (AVMA)
- Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources (ILAR)
- Association for Gnotobiotics, Canadian Association for Laboratory Animal Medicine (CALAM)
- Canadian Association for Lab Animal Science (CALAS)
- Canadian Veterinary Medicine Association (CVMA)
- The Ordre des Medecins Veterinaire du Quebec (OMVQ)
