Ventilated Rodent Caging for the University of Delaware Life Science Research Facility

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Abstract/Project Summary The Life Science Research Facility (LSRF) at the University of Delaware is a 29,000 sq ft vivarium, which houses mice, rats and prairie voles. This facility currently supports the biomedical research of 31 different Principal Investigators (PIs) and is a core facility for the NIH-funded IdeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE). Two partner institutions in INBRE, Delaware State University and Christiana Care Gene Editing Institute, also house animals in the LSRF. Most recently the COBRE-funded Delaware Center for Musculoskeletal Research was established in 2021, and the Center has an animal model core incorporated within the LSRF. PIs that have used the facility since 2020 have secured a total of $50M in research awards (total award dollars, all sources) including a $13M NIH Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE), $5M State of Delaware match to INBRE, etc. There have been significant increases in faculty hiring at the University over the last decade, including strategic efforts to grow in areas that leverage the LSRF. Areas include biomedical engineering, biological sciences, speech and language disorders, and neuroscience. The average numbers of mice and prairie voles housed in the facility has increased by approximately 62% over the last 5 years. It is projected that this growth will continue, and the current rodent housing is nearing capacity. This grant request is for additional ventilated rodent caging to increase the rodent housing capacity of the LSRF so that lack of rodent housing space will not negatively impact the growing research programs of the University of Delaware. Not only will the proposed expansion of ventilated rodent caging make more efficient use of space than the older microisolator caging, it will improve the health and well-being of the animals. Ventilated caging improves rodent health and research reproducibility by decreasing the exposure of animals to ammonia derived from urine due to increased air circulation and decreases the risk of the animals to pathogen exposure as the air is HEPA purified. Ventilated caging also decreases animal stress (and risk of such stress confounding research results) as animals are handled less because cages need less frequent changing. As a byproduct, this decreases exposure of personnel to allergens and decreases operational costs as more animals can be cared for by each animal caretaker.