Novel Macaque Breeding Runs at the New Iberia Research Center

路易斯安那大学拉斐特分校的新伊比利亚研究中心（NIRC）旨在扩大其 猕猴繁殖能力，建造2个多功能住房建筑，配有屋顶，电力， 水、暖气和空气循环。这种类型的建筑经过专门设计和广泛测试， 在德克萨斯州的另一个设施中饲养猕猴，证明了充足性，易于维护， 建设期限。每个建筑单元将包括20个室内/室外跑道，能够轻松容纳 每种20头，总容量约为800头种猪及其后代。这种扩张至关重要 为了适应NIRC快速增长的研究计划以及NIAID VRC的支持， SVEU艾滋病毒/艾滋病重点项目。NIRC支持许多慢病毒的现场和合作项目 最先进的成像能力（包括全身信号细胞分析）支持的发病机制 方法，旨在治愈艾滋病毒的治疗方法，以及预防粘膜病毒感染的广泛计划。 通过保护性实验疫苗、阴道和结肠直肠杀微生物剂获得。此外，NIRC还 是COVID-19疫苗和抗体治疗测试的关键贡献者。后一种流行病严重影响了 耗尽了研究猕猴的供应，NIRC通过增加2200只猕猴来扩大其殖民地 在过去的五年里，非人类灵长类动物。这是通过逐渐改变黑猩猩的用途来适应的 住房转化为育种和研究空间，但这种转化已经达到了极限，NIRC已经达到了极限。 猴舍的最大容量，部分原因是增加了2个新的猴群 食蟹猴和非洲绿色猴，并授予NIAID SIV疫苗评估单位奖。 增加这种特殊类型的住房的理由是基于其多功能性，低维护和成本 节省人力：NIRC位于路易斯安那州南部，有能力在户外饲养恒河猴 一年四季用于繁殖目的，虽然传统的玉米笼笼设计，而杰出的卫生 而猕猴的行为发展，在有限的等级压力下，也有许多缺点。 拟议的新建筑物将避免，包括缺乏二级遏制，充分保护， 最近偶尔出现的零度以下天气，以及市政水务条例所征收的“雨水税”。 玉米笼住房目前支持多达10个恒河猴在典型的后宫配置繁殖群体 一个玉米棚一个雄性按照建议使用更大的饲养场，将能够扩大>1500只猕猴饲养者 最大限度地利用经过验证的繁殖雄性。NIRC现场有超过8,500只非人类灵长类动物， 美国最大的灵长类动物研究机构，虽然没有得到NIH的直接支持， 计划和现成的扩展空间，我们认为，NIRC是一个理想的网站扩展 猕猴繁殖以支持NIH的研究。

The New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is aiming to expand its macaque breeding capacity by the construction of 2 multi-run housing buildings complete with roofing, electricity, water, heating and air circulation. This type of building has been specifically designed and extensively tested for macaque housing/breeding at another facility in Texas, attesting to the adequacy, ease of maintenance and duration of construction. Each building unit will comprise 20 indoor/outdoor runs able to easily accommodate up to 20 breeder animals each for a total capacity of ~800 breeders and their offsprings. This expansion is critical to accommodate the rapidly increasing research programs at NIRC as well as the support of NIAID VRC and SVEU HIV/AIDS focused programs. NIRC supports many both onsite and collaborative programs on lentiviral pathogenesis supported by state of the art imaging capabilities including a whole body to signal cell analysis approach, therapeutic approaches aimed at curing HIV, and an extensive program to prevent mucosal viral acquisition via protective experimental vaccines, vaginal and colorectal microbicides. In addition, NIRC has been a key contributor to the testing of COVID-19 vaccines and antibody treatments. The latter pandemic has severely depleted the supply of research macaques and NIRC has been expanding its colonies via the addition of 2200 nonhuman primates over the past 5 years. This has been accommodate by gradually repurposing chimpanzee housing into breeding and research space, but this conversion has reached its limits and NIRC has reached it maximum capacity as far as monkey housing, in part due to the addition of a 2 new colonies of Mauritian cynomolgus macaques and African green monkeys and the award of a NIAID SIV Vaccine Evaluation Unit award. The rationale for adding this particular type of housing is based on its versatility, low maintenance and cost savings on manpower: Located in Southern Louisiana, NIRC has the ability to house rhesus macaques outdoors year-round for breeding purposes, though the traditional corncrib cage design, while outstanding for sanitation and the behavioral development of macaques, with limited hierarchical stress, also has a number of drawbacks that the proposed new buildings will avoid, including the lack secondary containment, adequate protection for the occasional subzero days as recently experienced and a “rain tax” imposed by our municipal water ordinance. Corncrib housing currently supports breeding groups of up to 10 rhesus macaques in typical harem configuration with 1 male per corncrib. Use of larger runs as proposed, will enable the expansion of >1500 macaque breeders on site, maximizing utilization of proven breeder males. With over 8,500 nonhuman primates on site, NIRC is the largest primate facility in the US, and while not directly supported by NIH, has a rapidly expanding research program and readily available space for expansion, we submit that NIRC is an ideal site for expansion of macaque breeding in support of NIH research.