Advancing Neuroscience Research by Modernizing Animal Housing to Improve Animal Well-Being and Science

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Project Abstract The University of Chicago has a robust and growing neuroscience program. Central to these research studies are non-human primates trained to perform behavioral tasks as part of the research. Training of these behavioral tasks takes months to years to complete and successful outcomes require animals to be in their best physical and psychological health. Assuring animals are kept in excellent health is a shared mission of the Animal Resources Center and the neuroscience laboratories. We approach animal care collaboratively to look for ways to improve animal welfare and research outcomes. This strategy has allowed the Animal Resources Center to make numerous improvements in the care and use of animals at the institution. We propose to outfit newly renovated rooms with a new multi-animal housing system which will increase the size and quality of space available to the animals, enhance their ability to express species-typical behaviors in an enriched environment and improve their social housing opportunities. With these new enclosures, we will be better able to approximate a natural environment for the animals, which in turn makes them better suited for research of human conditions and contributes to enhanced reproducibility and the integrity of the science. We anticipate with this positive change, health problems will potentially be decreased due to improvement in enrichment opportunities and social housing. These enclosures also will streamline operations by creating larger social groups with abundant enrichment space, which will eliminate the need to move enrichment play cages between rooms, and will eliminate the need to move and transport cages between animal rooms and cage wash. This will decrease labor associated with cage changing and cage washing. An environmental impact, through the reduced use of cage wash water, steam, and electricity is also expected. The new housing system will also increase our capacity for maintaining additional primates in the same room by allowing more animals to be housed in the enclosures than possible with standard caging systems. The most enthusiastic aspect of this proposal, however, is the ability to initiate cage side research studies within these enclosures. Cage side studies allow the monkey to conduct their work in their home cage voluntarily without the need for transport to the laboratory, thus also eliminating the need for techniques for water access scheduling in some animals. This will streamline research operations in addition to the husbandry efficiencies already mentioned. The transition to a new housing system will, therefore, not only provide an environment that promotes improved animal health and psychological well-being, and streamline husbandry operations, but will also positively impact research outcomes and improve scientific operations by pioneering a new method to collect research data with the animals.