ANIMAL FACILITIES RENOVATION TO ENHANCE RESEARCH

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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.