Autoclave for DMU Shared Biomedical Research Facility

摘要 得梅因大学的动物研究环境包括一个强大的国家卫生研究院 资助的研究人员拥有一流的设备和工作人员的支持，住在一个现代化的动物护理中心。 设施。目前实验能力的一个显著弱点是我们13岁的 高压灭菌器连接到一个独立的，但集成的50年的老锅炉（不再在 生产）和水净化系统。这种集成的旧设备经常发生故障 需要修理，造成意外支出和延误， 利用研究。这种故障经常发生，因为年龄和条件的 现有的高压灭菌器。高压蒸汽灭菌是实验室最有效、最可靠的灭菌手段 材料.高压灭菌器是一种不可或缺的成熟的主流技术， 在生物医学设施中无处不在，用于在实验中使用之前对设备/产品进行灭菌 或使物品在处置前不具有传染性。尽管它对NIH研究很重要，但我们的 当前的高压灭菌器虽然维护良好且大量使用，但已经失去了与当前状态的同步- 在灵敏度、可靠性和及时性方面处于领先地位，适用于我们的动物和一般生物医学研究。 因此，我们请求拨款购买一台新的高效集成蒸汽灭菌器（高压灭菌器）- 一个集成系统，包括一个微机控制的蒸汽灭菌器，蒸汽锅炉， 节水系统和控制系统-允许对动物进行可靠的消毒， 生物医学相关的研究工具/材料，以支持我们的主要和次要用户， 需要这项技术。现代化的集成高压灭菌器将支持我们确保高效的 工作流程以及安全和无污染的动物园和研究环境。一个 在过去13年中建立了大量使用的持续跟踪记录， 来自许多NIH和外部资助的生物医学研究人员社区的出版物， 得梅因大学校园内的指导学生研究和培训将确保 新的集成蒸汽灭菌器将支付本身的研究生产力。

Abstract The animal research environment at Des Moines University includes a strong group of NIH funded investigators with excellent equipment and staff support housed in a modern animal care facility. A significant weakness of the current experimental capabilities is our 13-year-old autoclave that is connected to a standalone but integrated 50-yr old boiler (no longer in production) and a water purification system. This integrated old equipment frequently breaks down and requires repairs, causing unanticipated expenditures and delays in conducting animal use research. Such breakdowns occur frequently because of the age and condition of the existing autoclave. Autoclaving is the most effective and reliable means of sterilizing laboratory materials. Autoclaves are an indispensable well-established mainstream technology that is used ubiquitously in biomedical facilities to sterilize equipment/products before use in an experiment or to render items non-infectious before disposal. Despite its importance to NIH research, our current autoclave, while well maintained and heavily used, has lost pace with the current state- of-the-art in sensitivity, reliability and timeliness for our animal and general biomedical research. We thereby request funds to purchase a new efficient integrated Steam Sterilizer (autoclave) - an integrated system that includes a microcomputer-controlled steam sterilizer, a steam boiler, a water saving system and a control system - to allow for reliable sterilization of animal and biomedical related research tools/materials to support our Major and Minor users that have a need for this technology. A modern integrated autoclave will support us in ensuring efficient workflows as well as a safe and contamination free vivarium and research environment. An established sustained track record of heavy use over the last thirteen years, frequent publications from the many NIH and externally funded biomedical researcher community and mentored student research and training on Des Moines University’s campus will ensure that the new integrated Steam Sterilizer will pay for itself in research productivity.