Equipment to Protect University Mice and Personnel

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University of Arizona (UA)'s research programs focus on many of the Healthy People 2010 goals including increasing the life span and improving the quality of life of Arizonans and Americans through disease prevention, understanding of basic physiological and pathological processes, discovery of new treatments, and development of life-saving techniques and instrumentation. Animal use plays a vital role in research, and increased use of animals has coincided with the expansion of biomedical research programs and completion of buildings, which are housing new faculty recruits. Current projections indicate that research funding and animal use will show significant increases during the remainder of the decade. The greatest increase will be in the utilization of genetically engineered mice. Currently all mice are housed in static microisolation to ensure protection of animals from introduction and/or spread of infectious disease. To improve the microenvironment for mice and the macroenvironment for personnel, the UA is converting housing of mice to individually ventilated caging systems (IVC). IVC units are requested through this proposal to house mice for six PHS-funded researchers who utilize the Central Animal Facility. The benefits of this type of caging are: improved environment for animals and personnel, increased productivity of breeding animals and research, reduced costs of research, and ability to maximize animal housing space. To further enhance the macrovenironment, reducing exposure of personnel to allergens, vertically ventilated changing stations will be purchased to replace units with horizontal flow. With the purchase of these items of equipment, the UA can significantly improve the health and well-being of both mice and personnel and provide reduced costs for research.