Construction of a Dual Function Primate Facility: ABSL3 and Transplant Medicine

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University is one of eight national primate centers in the United States. With an average daily census of 3400 nonhuman primates (NHPs), the Center supports multidisciplinary translational research in microbiology and immunology, neuroscience, psychobiology and sensory-motor systems. The Center, adjacent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has grown to become a vital component of the NIH's National Center for Research Resources and currently supports approximately 150 NIH funded projects. However, continued growth of research programs and funding successes have outstripped the capacity of our existing infrastructure to support the basic and translational research for which the Center is so well recognized. In particular, the lack of sufficient NHP ABSL3 space for work on infectious diseases and the increased need for space-intensive facilities required for work with immunocompromised animals has significantly curtailed the Center's ability to respond to national research priorities. Accordingly, this C06 proposal requests funds for construction of a new dual function 19,800 sq ft building devoted to NHP research in two of the most rapidly growing areas of the Yerkes research portfolio that align with national health priorities - infectious disease and transplant medicine. This new facility will address major unmet needs in tuberculosis and other emerging infectious disease threats, and will further the development of immune therapies to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with bone marrow, organ, and tissue transplants. The first floor of the building will be dedicated to infectious disease research, with an ABSL3 capacity for 108 animals in 4 self-sufficient environmentally contained areas that will permit up to 4 concurrent studies, each with unique high-risk agents without danger of cross contamination. The third floor will be dedicated to the Transplant Medicine Facility, have a capacity for quarantine of 80 NHPs and housing up to 168 NHPs post transplant, will include a suite for profoundly immunocompromised animals, and a dedicated operating room for dual transplant donor/recipient surgeries. All building maintenance functions will be housed in an innovatively designed second floor interstitial space so that service and equipment maintenance functions can be performed without the need to enter either ABSL3 space or specialized space for immunocompromised animals. The air handling systems for the ABSL3 floor and the transplant floor will be entirely separated and isolated from each other to preclude the possibility of cross contamination. Construction of this dual function facility will create jobs for an extensive labor force over the next 2 plus years. Moreover, the operation of this new facility will create new positions for at least 12 skilled FTEs, including 6 research personnel, 1 dedicated building manager, 3 animal caretakers, 1 veterinary technician and 1 ABSL3-trained animal research specialist.