Improvement of Facilities Used for BL2 Animal Research

描述(由申请人提供)： 耶鲁大学在以啮齿动物为基础的研究的两个方面遇到了快速增长，这需要大幅扩大啮齿动物危害控制空间。首先，生物危害剂的使用是耶鲁大学以啮齿动物为基础的一个重要且不断增加的组成部分。在过去的五年里，对这类药物的研究增加了大约40%。最近，联邦政府对生物危害的资助大幅增加，这表明这一领域的新兴趋势将继续下去，并可能升级。 其次，从其他机构的研究人员那里进口基因工程小鼠(Gem)--这是当代研究的科学基础组成部分--需要在释放到耶鲁殖民地之前进行检疫和检测。此外，耶鲁大学是国家代谢表型核心的所在地，这需要隔离和表型鉴定。我们预计今年将进口400多头接受检疫和检测的牛，这一数字正在以平均每年18%的速度增长。这两个活动目前被打包到分散的设施中，这些设施主要用于容纳特定的无病原体(SPF)小鼠，总容量既不够大，也没有适当的配置来实现最佳的遏制安全和效率。 自1992年以来，耶鲁大学的啮齿动物普查一直在稳步增加，在过去六年中翻了一番。通风架子的使用以及最近新建的57,000平方英尺的安利安中心(TAG)老鼠设施的启用，使过度拥挤的老鼠房间得以减压，SPF老鼠得以巩固。它还腾出了10,000平方英尺的空间，在外科、产科和妇科实验室(LSOG)现有的老鼠关押设施中。这项申请申请资金，以帮助支持用于需要生物安全二级(BL2)试剂、化学和辐射危害、检疫和表型鉴定的研究中使用的啮齿动物住房和程序空间的整修。拟议的翻修将使LSOG能够被用作高效、集中的生物安全遏制设施，方法是将未充分利用的存储转化为急需的程序空间，并改造现有的、连续的、随时可以适应这种用途的住房空间。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Yale University has encountered rapid growth in two aspects of rodent-based research that require substantial expansion of rodent hazard containment space. First, the use of biohazardous agents is a significant and increasing component of rodent-based at Yale. Research with such agents has increased about 40 percent during the past five years. Most recently, Federal funding for biological hazards has substantially increased which suggests that the emergent trend in this area will continue and likely escalate. Second, the importation of genetically engineered mice (GEM) from investigators at other institutions-a scientifically essential component of contemporary research-requires quarantine and testing prior to releasing then into Yale colonies. Further, Yale is the site for a national metabolic phenotyping core which requires both quarantine and phenotyping. We are projecting to import over 400 cohorts this year subject to quarantine and testing and this number is increasing annually at an average of 18 percent. These two activities are currently packed into dispersed facilities, which are primarily used for housing specific pathogen-free (SPF) mice and are neither large enough in total capacity or configured appropriately for optimal containment safety and efficiency. Yale's rodent census has increased steadily since 1992 and has doubled within the past six years. The use of ventilated racks and, most recently, the opening of a new 57,000 square foot mouse facility, The Anlyan Center (TAG), has enabled decompression of overcrowded mouse1 rooms and consolidation of SPF mice. It has also vacated 10,000 gross square feet of space in an existing mouse holding facility in the Laboratory of Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology (LSOG). This application requests funds to help support the renovation for consolidation of housing and procedure space for rodents used in research requiring Biological Safety Level 2 (BL2) agents, chemical and radiologic hazards, quarantine, and phenotyping. The proposed renovation will allow LSOG to be used as an efficient, centralized, biosecure containment facility by converting underutilized storage into critically needed procedure space and by revamping existing, contiguous housing space that is readily adaptable for such use.