UCSD Mouse Research Facilities Improvement Program-Medical Teaching Facility

描述(由申请人提供)：医学教学设施间隔室建于1978年，位于加州大学圣地亚哥分校健康科学区的中心，包括26个鼠房，可容纳69个机架和11,000多箱研究用鼠。需要资金购买创新的新住房系统，包括高密度、单独通风的一次性/可回收笼子。拟议的住房扩建将使现有和新招聘的教员能够进行心脏病学、胃肠病学、呼吸生理学和神经生物学的开创性研究。这些领域的发现将推进阿尔茨海默氏症和心肌梗塞等人类重要疾病的预防和安全治疗。加州大学圣迭戈分校动物保护和利用计划的首要目标是最大限度地实现成功的研究，优化动物健康，并确保人类健康。我们现在正专注于升级小灵通资助的高度互动的实验中使用的“传统型”设施的鼠标外壳系统。我们的具体目标是1)扩大位于市中心的MTF设施的老鼠收容所容量，2)通过改善主要收容环境和最大限度地减少病原体暴露来改善小鼠的健康，以及3)减少对小鼠笼养卫生设施和MTF内相关自然资源的需求。为了实现这些目标，我们要求69个高密度单独通风小鼠棚架中的42个，以支持对相关微生物群相对较小变化敏感的动物的关键研究。一旦资金到位，该大学将提供剩余的27个机架。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Built in 1978, strategically located at the center of the Health Sciences Region on the campus of the University of California, San Diego, the Medical Teaching Facility vivarium includes 26 mouse housing rooms capable of holding 69 racks and over 11,000 boxes of research mice. Funds are requested to purchase an innovative new housing system comprised of high-density individually ventilated disposable/recyclable cages. The proposed housing expansion will enable established and newly recruited faculty to conduct seminal studies in cardiology, gastroenterology, respiratory physiology and neurobiology. Discoveries in these areas will advance the prevention and safe treatment of important human diseases such as Alzheimer's and myocardial infarction. Top goals for the Animal Care and Use Program at UCSD are to maximize successful research, optimize animal well being, and ensure human health. We are now focusing on upgrading mouse housing systems at "conventional-type" facilities used in highly interactive PHS funded experiments. Our specific aims are to 1) expand mouse housing capacity at the centrally located MTF facility, 2) improve the health of mice by improving the primary housing environment and minimizing exposure to pathogens, and 3) reduce the need for mouse caging sanitation facilities and the associated natural resources within the MTF. To address these aims we are requesting 42 of the 69 high density individually ventilated mouse housing racks that are needed to support critical research on animals sensitive to relatively minor changes in associated microflora. The University will provide the remaining 27 racks as funds become available.