Equipment to Protect University Mice and Personnel

描述(由申请人提供)： 亚利桑那大学(亚利桑那大学)S的研究项目侧重于2010年健康人的许多目标，包括通过疾病预防、了解基本的生理和病理过程、发现新的治疗方法以及开发救生技术和仪器来延长亚利桑那州人和美国人的寿命和改善他们的生活质量。动物用途在研究中起着至关重要的作用，而动物用途的增加与生物医学研究项目的扩大和大楼的建成不谋而合，这些大楼是新教师的栖息地。目前的预测表明，在本十年的剩余时间里，研究资金和动物使用将出现显著增长。最大的增长将是转基因小鼠的利用。目前，所有小鼠都被关在静态的微型隔离中，以确保保护动物免受传染病的传入和/或传播。为了改善小鼠的微环境和人员的大环境，UA正在将小鼠的住房改用单独通风的笼子系统(IVC)。通过这项提议，IVC单位被要求为6名利用中央动物设施的PHS资助的研究人员安置小鼠。这种类型的笼养的好处是：改善了动物和人员的环境，提高了饲养动物和研究的生产率，降低了研究成本，并能够最大限度地增加动物的栖息地。为了进一步改善宏观环境，减少人员接触过敏原，将购买垂直通风的换气站，以取代水平流动的单元。通过购买这些设备，UA可以显著改善小鼠和人员的健康和福祉，并降低研究成本。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University of Arizona (UA)'s research programs focus on many of the Healthy People 2010 goals including increasing the life span and improving the quality of life of Arizonans and Americans through disease prevention, understanding of basic physiological and pathological processes, discovery of new treatments, and development of life-saving techniques and instrumentation. Animal use plays a vital role in research, and increased use of animals has coincided with the expansion of biomedical research programs and completion of buildings, which are housing new faculty recruits. Current projections indicate that research funding and animal use will show significant increases during the remainder of the decade. The greatest increase will be in the utilization of genetically engineered mice. Currently all mice are housed in static microisolation to ensure protection of animals from introduction and/or spread of infectious disease. To improve the microenvironment for mice and the macroenvironment for personnel, the UA is converting housing of mice to individually ventilated caging systems (IVC). IVC units are requested through this proposal to house mice for six PHS-funded researchers who utilize the Central Animal Facility. The benefits of this type of caging are: improved environment for animals and personnel, increased productivity of breeding animals and research, reduced costs of research, and ability to maximize animal housing space. To further enhance the macrovenironment, reducing exposure of personnel to allergens, vertically ventilated changing stations will be purchased to replace units with horizontal flow. With the purchase of these items of equipment, the UA can significantly improve the health and well-being of both mice and personnel and provide reduced costs for research.