Volker Hall Animal Facility Phase IV

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) requests funds ($500,000 NCRR, $39,000 committed from UAB) for the completion of the renovation of the second largest and oldest animal facility at UAB. The Volker Hall Animal Facility (VHAF) was constructed in 1971 and provides 45,500 nsf of animal housing, procedure and support space. The VHAF has undergone a three phase renovation starting in 2000. This proposal (Phase IV) will complete the fitout of 1000 nsf and provide: (1) a state of the art animal necropsy room, (2) three animal housing rooms with special light control features (total darkness and/or light), (3) heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) improvement to 16 animal housing rooms allowing centralized monitoring/control of room temperatures, and (4) wall protection railings for the corridors surrounding the large animal housing rooms of the VHAF. The following deficiencies are addressed: absence of appropriate facilities for large animal necropsy and rendering of carcasses for disposal; insufficient space for terminal rodent procedures; absence of appropriate housing space for animals used in retinal research requiring total darkness/light; inadequate monitoring of animal housing room temperatures; and damaged walls, doors and wall mounted equipment due to absence of wall protection railing. The requessted improvements will benefit all large animal researchers at UAB (21), all small animal researchers (35) with animals housed in VHAF and retinal researchers requiring special lighting conditions for their animals (6). These facilities will contribute to the completion of 69 active ($16.7M) and 113 pending ($120.4M) animal research projects.