Purchase Ventilated Caging Systems to Expand Mouse Housing Capacity

描述（由申请人提供）：近年来，印第安纳大学医学院（usm）对基因工程小鼠（GEM）的使用大幅增加。这些动物对学院的主要研究重点至关重要，包括癌症、糖尿病和美国其他重要健康问题的研究。由于GEM的使用迅速增长，实验动物资源中心（LARC）需要更高效和更大的住房容量。2009年，我们利用机构资源建造了Walther Hall，这是一座包含18,000平方英尺啮齿动物住房设施的研究大楼。该设施最多可容纳12,900个老鼠笼子。当建筑开放时，我们能够购买单独的通风笼系统，代表大约10,000个笼子的老鼠。该拨款提案的资金将用于为我们的Walther Hall动物设施购买14个模块化动物笼系统（MACS(R), Alternative Design Manufacturing & Supply, Inc.）和相关的自动浇水系统（Edstrom Industries, Inc.）能力，以增加2,240个笼子，增加该动物设施的住房容量。这意味着瓦尔特霍尔动物设施的住房容量增加了22%。购买这些额外的单独通风笼系统将使我们能够满足我们的主要研究人员所要求的增加可用住房容量的具体目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) has experienced a substantial increase in the use of genetically engineered mice (GEM) in recent years. These animals are critical for the School's major research focuses, including studies of cancer, diabetes, and other health problems of importance in the USA. Our rapid growth in the use of GEM has created a need for more efficient and greater housing capacity in the Laboratory Animal Resource Center (LARC). In 2009, we utilized institutional resources to build Walther Hall, a research building containing an 18,000 square foot rodent housing facility. This facility was designed to house a maximum of 12,900 cages of mice. We were able to purchase individually ventilated caging systems representing approximately 10,000 cages of mice when the building opened. Funds from this grant proposal will be used to purchase 14 Modular Animal Caging Systems (MACS(R), Alternative Design Manufacturing & Supply, Inc.) with associated automatic watering system (Edstrom Industries, Inc) capabilities for our Walther Hall animal facility to add 2,240 cages, increasing the housing capacity of this animal facility. This represents a 22% increase in the housing capacity for the Walther Hall animal facility. The purchase of these additional individually ventilated caging systems will allow us to meet our specific aims of increasing the available housing capacity required by our principal investigators, protecting the health and well-being of the mice, providing personnel protection for the employees working in the animal facilities, and increasing the operational efficiencies of the animal facility.