Improvements to Building T Animal Facility

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): SRI International is a nonprofit research institute that currently performs ~$20M in NIH-funded biomedical research each year. Major areas of research that use animals include neurobiology, cancer, infectious disease, toxicology, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacology. Our animal facilities have been continuously accredited by AAALAC since 1974. SRI is requesting funds for enhancement of our animal facilities in Building T, which houses primarily rodents and rabbits. The present Building T animal facility, built in 1962, has a very inefficient cage wash facility, does not have adequate storage space for clean animal cages and supplies, and does not have an area to perform survival surgical procedures on non-rodent mammals. There are growing urgent needs to accommodate more studies in terms of actual numbers of animals as well as more studies with special needs such as survival surgery, immunodeficient animals, genetically manipulated rodents, and animal studies requiring biological, chemical, and radiological hazard containment practices. This program has 3 Specific Aims: (1) Cagewash Expansion. We will expand our current T-Building cagewash area by removing the wall to the adjoining room, thereby approximately doubling the current space available. We will replace a 30+ year old tunnel washer with a new tunnel/cage washing unit and install a double-doored autoclave suitable for sterilizing cages and racks for applications involving biohazardous agents or immunocompromised animals. (2) Surgery Suite. We will construct a new 3-room aseptic surgery suite. The suite will adjoin the existing restroom area for simplicity of preparation/gowning and will consist of preparation (162 ft2), surgery (440 ft2), and recovery (225 ft2) rooms. (3) Cage/Rack Storage Area. We will build a new, clean storage area for cages and racks immediately adjacent to the new cage wash area. The improvements to our animal facility will greatly enhance the overall capabilities, capacity, and quality of our animal facility and will directly benefit the 21 funded NIH projects and 30 pending NIH applications that use laboratory animals.