ANIMAL FACILITIES RENOVATION TO ENHANCE RESEARCH

描述(由申请人提供)： 长期目标是通过翻新QL动物设施，为教师当前和已知的未来研究需求提供程序、手术、检疫和存储空间，以提高MCP Hahnemann大学的研究效率。QL园区是由美国国立卫生研究院(NIH)支持的神经生物学、微生物学和免疫学方面的密集研究和培训的地点。这些计划涉及移植、免疫干预、神经生理学测量和动物行为评估。动物设施既没有一般的程序性手术空间，也没有专门的啮齿动物手术空间。因此，动物必须通过公共走廊被运送到调查人员的实验室，然后再送回设施。这可能会给动物带来压力，使它们暴露在环境病原体之下，从而威胁到对实验变量的控制。此外，该大学的两个校区都没有为进入的动物(特别是啮齿动物)提供隔离空间。这推迟了转基因动物更广泛地纳入研究。最后，迫切需要存储架子和笼子的空间。具体目标是：1)通过翻新现有的动物设施，为动物的生物医学和行为程序提供专用的程序空间；2)将研究人员实验室中啮齿动物的手术区域搬迁到设施内的新空间；3)在QL设施中建造隔离空间，为大学两个校区的研究服务；以及4)改造动物饲养和储存架和笼子的空间，以增强QL设施的运营功能。总而言之，这些修改将极大地提高我们使用动物进行与健康相关的研究的能力，并将腾出实验室内的空间进行额外的研究活动。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term objective is to enhance research productivity at MCP Hahnemann University by renovating the QL animal facility to provide procedural, surgical, quarantine and storage space for the current and known future research needs of the faculty. The QL campus is the site of intensive, National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported research and training in neurobiology, microbiology and immunology. These programs involve transplantation, immunological interventions, neurophysiological measurements and behavioral assessments in animals. The animal facility has neither general procedural nor dedicated rodent surgical space. Thus, animals must be transported through public corridors into investigators' laboratories and then returned to the facility. This can stress animals, expose them to environmental pathogens, and thereby threaten control of the experimental variables. Additionally, neither of the University's two campuses contain quarantine space for incoming animals (particularly rodents). This has delayed wider incorporation of genetically modified animals into the research. Finally, space for storing racks and cages is urgently needed. The specific aims are: 1) to provide dedicated procedural space for biomedical and behavioral procedures in animals by renovating the existing animal facility, 2) to relocate surgical areas for rodents from investigators' laboratories into new space within the facility, 3) to construct quarantine space at the QL facility to serve research at both campuses of the University, and 4) to remodel space for housing animals and storing racks and cages to enhance operating function of the QL facility. Together, these modifications will dramatically improve our ability to perform health-related studies using animals and will free space within laboratories for additional research activities.