A new biomedical research centre designed to bring together all animal based medical research at the University of Oxford has opened, and the transfer of animals has started, despite more than two years of delays caused by legal and illegal disruptions by protestors, it was announced this week.

The new biomedical sciences building will rehouse all animals currently used in medical research in older buildings throughout the university. It provides some of the most advanced facilities in the world to optimise the health and living conditions of research animals. The Home Office recently approved the building, and mice have been transferred in the first phase of moving animals, which will continue over the next few months.

Alastair Buchan, head of the medical sciences division at the university, said, …