Stanford RAF Cage Wash Improvements

描述(由申请人提供)：这项建议的总体目标是提高吞吐能力、材料工作流程和工艺效率、工人的安全和可持续性，并加强斯坦福大学核心研究动物设施(RAF)笼子洗涤区的水和公用事业保护。英国皇家空军现有的笼子清洗系统每天运行10-12小时，每周7天，可容纳约35,000个啮齿动物笼子和大约80个非人类灵长类和大型动物笼子。随着再生医学、光遗传学、癌症研究和生物医学工程领域新的和令人兴奋的研究项目的增加，包括增加啮齿动物行为测试核心服务和啮齿动物成像核心服务，动物普查在过去4年中增长了约40%。将皇家空军现有的机架清洗机替换为更现代化的机架清洗机，将使吞吐量增加约40%，实现笼式清洗区的最佳空间利用和工作流程，提高工人的安全性和舒适性，节省公用事业成本，并通过预计每年节省约500万加仑的水来极大地改善节水，这是干旱多发的加州的一种宝贵资源。这两个新的机架垫圈将使英国皇家空军在面对日益增长的需求时，能够按照动物福利法、美国农业部和国土安全部要求的标准来维护动物福利和笼子卫生流程。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall objective of this proposal is to improve the throughput capacity, material workflow and process efficiency, worker safety and sustainability, and to enhance water and utilities conservation in the cage wash area of Stanford University's core research animal facility (RAF). The existing cage wash system in RAF operates 10-12 hrs/day, 7 days a week, and accommodates a weekly throughput of ~35,000 rodent cages and approximately 80 nonhuman primate and large animal cages. With the addition of new and exciting research programs in regenerative medicine, optogenetics, cancer research, and biomedical engineering, including the addition of rodent behavioral testing core services and a rodent imaging core service, the animal census has grown by ~40% in the last 4 years. The replacement of the existing rack washers in RAF with more modern rack washers would increase the throughput by an estimated 40%, allow for optimal space use and work flow in the cage wash area, enhance worker safety and comfort, result in a cost savings on utilities, and greatly improve water conservation by a projected annual savings of ~5 million gallons of water, a precious resource in drought-prone California. The two new rack washers will allow the RAF, in the face of increasing demand, to maintain animal well-being and the cage sanitation process in compliance with the standards required by the Animal Welfare Act, the USDA, and the DHHS.