The Oxford University has announced the opening of its controversial Biomedical Science building. The construction was stopped in July 2004 after animal rights protests aimed at contract workers on the site, but was resumed in November 2005 after the university obtained a court order limiting demonstrations to one day a week.

The First Mice for research, which will play a key part in biomedical research, have been delivered at the facility.

The research facility, which has been set up at the cost of 20 million pounds will initiate research on cancer, strokes, heart disease, diabetes, HIV, epilepsy, Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s. Research animals now housed in the old buildings around the university will be moved to the new site, with the transfer expected to be complete by mid-2009. Almost all -- 98 percent -- of the animals housed there will be rodents, the vast majority of them mice, while fish, frogs, ferrets and primates will also be used. Primates will make up less than 0.5 percent.

Professor Alastair Buchan, head of Oxford's medical sciences division, one of Europe's largest medical research hubs, said the building represented a "significant step forward for biomedical research" at the university. However, he also made it evidently clear that "Some animal use is still essential for medical progress. The new building will help us deliver on our commitment to animal care while pursuing life-saving medical advances"

 However, chief executive of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), Michelle Thew stated: "It is depressing, that in a collective failure of imagination, our leading institutions are choosing to repeat the failed patterns of the past, rather than investing in the future....Humanity will pay a high price until our public money goes into modern, humane, reliable, non-animal research to deliver cures for diseases."