Seton Hall lab mice were living in 'extremely dirty' conditions, university says

A Seton Hall University faculty member was suspended by the university after failing to provide mice in their research facility "with essential necessities needed to sustain life," ultimately leading to the euthanasia of 76 mice.

On Jan. 26, Katia Passerini, Seton Hall's interim president, wrote a letter to the National Institute of Health's Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare to submit a final report from the school regarding the "incident of noncompliance" that went on from June 2022 to June 2023.

The report details the incident which started on June 6, 2022, when 76 mice were purchased by the faculty member without an approved protocol. This noncompliance issue was discovered on Sept. 14, 2022, and was reviewed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) who concluded that the mice were bred without an approved breeding protocol.

Going forward, the faculty member failed to provide the repeatedly requested record keeping for breeding, weaning and mouse ID to the IACUC. From Feb. 2023 through March 2023, the faculty member was contacted to address these issues but "all IACUC's attempts to work with this [faculty member] did not generate a productive outcome," according to the letter.

On Feb. 24, 2023, the IACUC conducted an inspection of the rooms that were managed by the faculty member. A follow up inspection was conducted on May 23, 2023.

During these inspections they found that the cages housing the mice were "extremely dirty" with "noticeable excess fecal matter and urine." The color of the animal's bedding was black. Some cages contained up to nine to 12 mice in each cage, well beyond the IACUC's standard of five mice in a cage of 68.75 square inches.

When they followed up in May, they found water bottles in all but one or two cages empty and dead baby mice in the cage of breeding animals. Throughout that time, the faculty member had been instructed to not breed the animals.

On May 24, 2023, due to the circumstances and in an effort to "terminate the ongoing noncompliance cycle in which the mice were not appropriately cared for and inadequately tracked and recorded, particularly leading to the condition in which any research conducted in using these animals would not have been reliable," the IACUC recommended that the mice be euthanized.

They instructed the faculty member to euthanize the mice and clean the room by noon on June 1, 2023. The faculty member failed to comply with these instructions later claiming in an email that he was "running late on his schedules."

On June 1, 2023, the faculty member was suspended until May 31, 2025, and a corrective action plan was created by the university. In addition to suspension, the corrective action plan includes several components including unannounced IACUC inspections of laboratory facilities, taking courses and obtaining medical clearance for the faculty member and all personnel working under his supervision before using animals again for research, among many other things.

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"Seton Hall University takes the integrity and ethical conduct of research seriously. Our own rigorous reviews and assessments identified these issues, leading us to immediately issue corrective directives to the [faculty member] to align with our strict protocols and animal welfare standards," said the university in a written statement. "Following the discovery of noncompliance, we quickly suspended the [faculty member] from further research of this type and have taken steps to address the conditions uncovered fully."

The statement continues, "Seton Hall University is committed to ensuring all research conducted under its auspices adheres to the highest ethical standards and complies with all regulatory requirements."

On April 2, Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN), an organization that investigates incidents of animal abuse in laboratories wrote a letter to Interim President Passerini insisting that the university take "extreme action" by terminating the employment of those involved in this incident.

"SAEN says that suspension of the project is insufficient and has filed a scathing administrative complaint with Interim President Passerini, calling for the immediate firing of all staff connected to the botched project," said an April 3 press release from SAEN.

In the complaint, Michael A. Budkie, executive director of SAEN highlights various sections of the interim president's report, describing why SAEN believes the faculty member should be "terminated immediately."

"These people deserve no more chances to abuse animals or pretend to do science," reads the letter. "They are an embarrassment to Seton Hall University. This faculty member and the associated staff must never be allowed to touch an animal again."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Seton Hall lab mice lived in 'extremely dirty' conditions