Renovation for Animal Facility Safety & Long-Tern Support of Research at the Univ

描述：北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校（UNC）在18个不同的设施中照顾大约38,000个笼子的老鼠。UNC是4个突变小鼠区域资源中心（MMRRC）之一，现在也拥有复杂性状联盟协作杂交（CC）育种计划。这些NIH赞助的项目作为一个主要的小鼠储存库，为世界范围内的遗传学和生物医学研究界鉴定新的疾病修饰位点提供服务。此外，北卡罗来纳大学还是国家啮齿动物资源中心（NGRRC）的所在地，该中心为学术机构和政府项目提供地方、国家和国际层面的服务。瑟斯顿-鲍尔斯大楼（TBB）的动物设施为来自医学院11个不同部门和中心的24名教职员工提供动物服务，包括以下中心：林伯格综合癌症（LCCC）、传染病、消化疾病、纳米医学、囊性纤维化/肺部研究和治疗、鲍尔斯酒精研究中心、瑟斯顿关节炎研究、基因组科学以及药学院。TBB动物设施的建造主要是为了容纳大型动物物种。TBB由100%无特定病原体的啮齿动物种群组成。然而，虽然瑟斯顿对啮齿动物住房的需求增加了，动物笼子的创新将使这座建筑可以容纳的笼子数量增加，但由于笼子清洗区设计的限制以及目前处理这些笼子的现有设备的限制，这种扩张是不可能的。在这个提案中寻求资金来翻新Thurston-Bowles动物设施的笼子清洗，以使该设施的全部潜力得以实现。我们将通过以下三个具体目标来实现我们的目标：用两台节能高效的笼子和机架清洗机替换机架清洗机：将购买并安装两台Tecniplast GP 900笼子和餐具清洗机，以优化笼子的清洁，并显着提高笼子处理的效率，从而增加屏障饲养动物的数量，以满足未来的需求。2. 优化和增加笼洗脏侧的动物空间：将对笼洗区域的物理配置进行改造，以容纳更多的回笼数量，增加笼的加工，并在符合环境卫生和安全标准的条件下处理带有实验病原体和生物危害的动物的笼。3. 提高笼子清洗安全，现代化笼子清洗设施的暖通空调和排气系统：这将改善环境条件，提高厕所的笼子处理效率，减少人员接触伤害、过敏原和动物笼子床上用品的危险。拟议的TBB笼子清洗翻新将支持24,301,730美元的正在进行的外部资助赠款和13,798,653美元的未决赠款。

DESCRIPTION: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) cares for approximately 38,000 cages of mice housed in 18 different facilities. UNC is one of 4 Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Centers (MMRRC) and now also houses the Complex Trait Consortium Collaborative Cross (CC) breeding program. These NIH sponsored programs serve as a major repository of mouse stocks and serve the world-wide genetics and biomedical research community identifying novel disease-modifying loci. In addition, UNC is home for the National Gnotobiotic Rodent Resource Center (NGRRC) which provides services on local, national and international levels to academic institutions and governmental programs. The Thurston-Bowles Building (TBB) animal facility houses animals for 24 faculty members from 11 different departments and centers in the School of Medicine including the following Centers: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer (LCCC), Infectious Diseases, Digestive Diseases, Nanomedicine, Cystic Fibrosis/Pulmonary Research and Treatment, the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, Thurston Arthritis Research, Genome Sciences, plus the School of Pharmacy. The TBB animal facility was constructed to house primarily large-animal species. TBB is comprised of 100% specific pathogen free rodent populations. However, while the demand for rodent housing in Thurston has increased, and innovation in animal caging would allow increases in the numbers of cages this building could accommodate, this expansion has not been possible because of limitations imposed by the design of the cage wash area and the current limitations of existing equipment for processing this caging. Funds are sought in this proposal to renovate the cage wash in the Thurston-Bowles animal facility to allow the full potential of this facility to be realized. We wil attain our objective by pursuing the following three specific aims: 1. Replace the rack washers with two energy efficient high throughput cage and rack washers: Two Tecniplast GP 900 cage and utensil washers will be purchased and installed to optimize cleaning of cages and improve efficiency of cage processing significantly which will allow an increase in the number of barrier-housed animals to meet future needs. 2. Optimize and increase the animal space in the dirty side of cage wash: Renovations in the physical configuration of the cage wash area will be made to accommodate higher return cage numbers, increased processing of cages, and processing of cages from animals with experimental pathogens and biohazards under conditions which meet environmental health and safety standards. 3. Improve cage wash safety and modernize the HVAC and exhaust system in the cage wash facility: This will improve environmental conditions, and cage processing efficiency in the washroom, and reduce personnel exposure to injuries, allergens, and animal cage bedding hazards. The proposed renovations to TBB cage wash would support $24,301,730 ongoing, extramurally funded grants and $13,798,653 that are pending.