Central Vivarium Sterilizer Installation

描述(申请人提供)：杜克大学致力于科学研究及其翻译，以改善人类健康，包括在研究中适当使用动物。这项提议的目的是更换和搬迁位于杜克大学中央隔间的一个陈旧的高压灭菌器，并重新分配空间，以最佳地提供明确的隔离/隔离和动物接收区，并提供从卫星区域清除可疑笼子和设备的能力。校园里88%的小鼠和大鼠被安置在专门设计的障碍区或设施中，以防止可能对研究目标产生负面影响的外来因素进入和传播，而非啮齿动物主要分布在中央隔室内。这项提案的具体目标基本上是 通过检疫和隔离“可疑”动物，最大限度地减少感染动物的交叉污染可能性，从而影响杜克大学的所有动物研究人员。这笔翻修赠款的资金对以下方面至关重要：(A)更换一个已有43年历史的高压灭菌器，该灭菌器用于维护中央隔间的隔离和检疫住房，以及在发生啮齿动物传染病暴发时清除笼子和卫星设施设备的污染；以及(B)提供一个与一般动物住房分开的检疫/隔离区域。美国国立卫生研究院的直接成本每年为杜克大学的动物研究提供约1.2亿美元的资金。中央隔室于1973年开放，是主校园隔室，在结构和运作上保持健全。这个占地29,129平方英尺(NSF)的设施布置在两层：一楼是一个小面积的行政和诊断实验室空间，动物空间位于一楼。中央隔室可以容纳杜克计划中的任何实验动物物种，也是美国农业部监管物种的主要储存和使用地点，包括非人类灵长类动物、犬类和农业物种。笼子和设备在设施北侧的中央维瓦利姆笼子洗涤区进行处理，并采用单一走廊操作：将脏的笼子和设备从动物房间移出并通过单一走廊运输到笼子洗涤器的“肮脏侧”，清洁的笼子和设备直接从机械垫圈出口进入笼洗器的清洁侧。利用美国再投资和恢复法案(ARRA)资源，由NIH提供的C06赠款资助的建设正在进行中，以建设2,731个NSF，以满足生物医学工程研究人员的需求，这些需求需要专门的程序区和大型动物模型，以及在约19,000 NSF的中央隔膜基础上增加两层。后一个项目将为美国农业部监管的物种(如非人类灵长类动物、农业物种和同伴物种)提供住房和程序空间，以适应杜克大学在神经科学、心血管、外科、生物医学工程和翻译研究方面的增长。中央隔膜还支持一些啮齿动物卫星设施，这些设施缺乏对笼子和设备进行消毒以及对这些物品进行高压灭菌的能力。来自这些设施的笼子和设备被运送到中央隔间，通过消毒器进行净化，并随后在笼子洗涤区进行卫生。购置和搬迁一个新的灭菌器，以及翻新一个检疫/隔离区，将改善材料的净化，减少外来病原体爆发的机会，并加强原来的中央隔膜与目前正在进行的由C06赠款资助的中央隔膜的连接。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Duke University is committed to scientific research and its translation to improve human health, including appropriate use of animals in research. The purpose of this proposal is to replace and relocate an aged autoclave located within Duke's Central Vivarium and reallocate space to optimally provide defined quarantine/isolation and animal receiving areas, and to provide the ability to decontaminate suspect caging and equipment from satellite areas. Eighty eight per cent of all mice and rats on campus are housed in barrier areas or facilities that are specifically designed to preclude entry and spread of adventitious agents that may negatively influence research objectives, and non-rodent animals are localized primarily within the Central Vivarium. The specific aims of this proposal essentially impact all animal researchers at Duke through the quarantine and isolation of 'suspect' animals and the minimizing of cross- contamination potential of infectious animals. Funds from this renovation grant are crucial to: a) replacing a 43-year- old autoclave that is necessary for maintenance of housing for isolation and quarantine in the Central Vivarium as well as for decontamination of caging and equipment from satellite facilities when rodent infectious disease outbreaks occur and b) to provide a quarantine/isolation area that is separate from the general animal housing area. Direct costs from the National Institutes of Health provide about $120 million of funding annually to animal research at Duke. Opened in 1973, the Central Vivarium is the main campus vivarium and remains structurally and operationally sound. This 29,129 net square feet (nsf) facility is arranged on two floors: a small ground floor area houses administrative and diagnostic laboratory space, with animal space located on the first floor. The Central Vivarium can house any laboratory animal species in Duke's program and is the main site for housing and use of USDA-regulated species, including non-human primates, canines, and agricultural species. Caging and equipment are processed in the Central Vivarium cagewash area on the north side of the facility and in a single corridor operation: soiled caging and equipment are removed from the animal rooms and transported into the "dirty side" of cagewash via a single corridor, clean caging and equipment exit mechanical washers directly into the clean side of cagewash. Construction funded through C06 grants from the NIH utilizing American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) resources is underway to build 2,731 nsf to meet the needs of biomedical engineering researchers that require specialized procedural areas and large animal models as well as a two-story addition to the Central Vivarium of about 19,000 nsf. The latter project will provide housing and procedural space for USDA-regulated species (e.g., nonhuman primates, agricultural and companion species) to accommodate the growth Duke is experiencing in neuroscience, cardiovascular, surgical, biomedical engineering, and translational research. The Central Vivarium also supports a number of rodent satellite facilities that lack the ability to sanitize caging and equipment as well as autoclaving of these items. Caging and equipment from these facilities are transported to the Central Vivarium for decontamination via the sterilizer and subsequent sanitation in the cagewash area. The acquisition and relocation of a new sterilizer, along with refurbishment of an area for quarantine/isolation will improve decontamination of materials, reduce the chance of adventitious agent outbreaks, and enhance the connections of the original Central Vivarium to the C06 grant-funded Central Vivarium additions currently underway.