About Us

The Large Animal Research and Imaging Facility (LARIF) has received funding from the University of Edinburgh, the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Livestock (CIEL) (thanks to the support of Innovate UK) and the Wellcome Trust.

CIEL

The University of Edinburgh's Large Animal Research and Imaging Facility (LARIF) is located on the the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies' Easter Bush Campus; also home to the Roslin Institute and other partners (see below).

Wellcome Trust

The LARIF offers users the opportunity to capitalise on a wide range of expertise in farm animal production, health and welfare including infectious diseases and zoonoses, vaccines, genetics and genome editing, imaging, radiology, medicine, surgery and critical care.

Research within the LARIF supports the One Health framework, recognising the link between human, animal and environmental health. It offers exceptional specialist facilities for in-depth studies of all major farmed livestock, including containment areas for work involving infectious pathogens, facilities to produce genetically altered animals, environmentally controlled units suitable for behaviour and welfare studies, imaging, surgical and critical care facilities for large animal models of disease and development of medical technology that will benefit both humans and animals.

A Culture of Care is central to the function of the LARIF and animal welfare is our utmost priority. All work will be undertaken in line with UK Home Office Guidelines and licencing requirements and will be overseen by a team of dedicated Named Veterinary Surgeons who are independent from the work carried out within the facility.

On-site resources and collaborations

The location of the LARIF on the Easter Bush Campus, which is a major national focus for animal research, provides ready access to a broad range of expertise and additional facilities, including:

Farm facilities including holding areas for cattle, sheep and pigs of all ages
Veterinary facilities and services at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies
Expertise in farm animal genetics, health and production from the Roslin Institute
Specialist pathology services via Easter Bush Pathology
Aquaculture facilities
Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security
National Avian Research Facility for poultry
Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health
Scotland's Rural College (SRUC)
Edinburgh Imaging

Researchers at the Easter Bush Campus also have extensive collaborations with leading animal breeding and pharmaceutical companies.

Below you can find out more about the history of large animal research at Roslin and how the work conducted here fits into CIEL's vision. 

Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL)

CIEL provides a focused gateway to a core of 12 world-class research institutes to develop new industry-needed solutions as well as commercial trial farms for real world results.

History of the LARIF

The LARIF is a new facility at the University of Edinburgh, which has an extensive and successful history of large animal research.

This article was published on