Steam Sterilizer for the McGavran-Greenberg Animal Facility at UNC Chapel Hill

 描述(由申请人提供)：北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校(UNC-CH)有一个资金充足的生物医学研究计划，其中包括大量使用啮齿动物模型的研究人员。北卡罗来纳大学也是几个关键的啮齿动物资源的所在地，包括四个突变小鼠区域资源中心(MMRRC)之一，国家生态型啮齿动物资源中心(NGRRC)，以及重组近交系小鼠合作杂交(CC)集合。这些由美国国立卫生研究院赞助的独特资源为世界范围内的遗传学和生物医学研究社区服务。这些资源，加上北卡罗来纳大学不断扩大的动物研究计划，使得北卡罗来纳大学的研究动物普查在过去七年中几乎翻了一番，增加的动物完全是啮齿动物。这项提案旨在为麦加夫兰-格林伯格(McGavran-Greenberg)研究动物设施增加一个散装蒸汽灭菌器，作为确保校园内动物设施的安全和效率的机构承诺的一部分。MCG动物中心最初是为了容纳大型动物物种而建造的，现在容纳了北卡罗来纳大学吉林斯全球公共卫生学院的啮齿动物和来自13个不同系和中心的教职员工，这些系和中心包括：Lineberger综合癌症中心(LCCC)、传染病中心、胃肠道生物学和疾病中心、卡罗莱纳纳米医学研究所、营养肥胖研究中心以及微生物学和免疫学、环境科学和工程学、营养学和病理学系。这笔翻修赠款的资金对于：a)更换有28年历史的高压灭菌器是至关重要的 用于一般住房的维护和笼子的净化，以防止啮齿动物传染病的爆发，以及b)维护与一般动物住房区分开的隔离隔间区域内不断扩大的传染病研究计划。我们将通过追求以下三个具体目标来实现我们的目标：1.取代28岁的 柜式灭菌器带有大型散装蒸汽灭菌器，为动物设施提供无病原体笼养，并在传染病、癌症和其他生物医学研究方面扩大研究计划；将购买并安装12222格廷格散装灭菌器，以 允许增加屏障饲养动物的数量，以满足当前的研究需求。2.将翻新未充分利用的生物安全级别(BSL)-3号套房，以扩大灭菌器容量。旧的生物危险套房区域的物理配置将进行翻新，以支持BSL-2传染病研究，并提供一个散装消毒器，用于在符合要求的条件下处理来自实验病原体和致癌物的动物笼子。3.更换支持动物设施和相关排气系统的三个空气处理器单元(AHU)之一。这个有26年历史的空气处理器功能寿命即将结束，将被一个新的超大单元取代，以支持未来的额外容量，并简化剩余AHU的未来翻新。该项目将支持26名研究人员在MCG使用动物进行成功的研究项目，这些研究人员拥有每年1890万美元的外部资金，其中1.83亿美元是NIH的资金。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) has a well-funded biomedical research program, which includes a substantial number of investigators using rodent animal models. UNC-CH is also the site of several key rodent resources including one of four Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Centers (MMRRC), the National Gnotobiotic Rodent Resource Center (NGRRC), and the Collaborative Cross (CC) collection of recombinant inbred mice. These unique NIH sponsored resources serve the world-wide genetics and biomedical research community. These resources, combined with the expanding animal research programs at UNC-CH have contributed to the near doubling of the research animal census at UNC in the past seven years, with the increase consisting entirely of rodents. This proposal seeks to add a bulk steam sterilizer to the McGavran-Greenberg (McG) research animal facility as part of an institutional commitment to ensuring the safety and efficiency of the animal facilities across campus. The McG animal facility was originally constructed to house primarily large-animal species and now houses rodents for the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and faculty members from 13 different departments and centers including the following: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC), Center for Infectious Diseases, Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease, Carolina Institute for Nanomedicine, Nutrition Obesity Research Center, and the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Nutrition, and Pathology. Funds from this renovation grant are crucial for: a) replacement of a 28-year- old autoclave that is necessary for maintenance of general housing and decontamination of caging to prevent rodent infectious disease outbreaks and b) for maintenance of an expanding infectious disease research program housed in the isolation cubicles area that is separate from the general animal housing area. We will attain our objective by pursuing the following three Specific Aims: 1. Replace the 28 year old cabinet style sterilizer with a large bulk steam sterilizer, providing pathogen free caging for an animal facility with an expanding research program within infectious disease, cancer, and other biomedical research initiatives; A 12222 Getinge bulk sterilizer will be purchased and installed to allow an increase in the number of barrier-housed animals to meet current research demands. 2. An underutilized biosafety level (BSL)-3 suite will be renovated to expand sterilizer capacity. Renovations in the physical configuration of the old biohazardous suite area will be made to support BSL-2 infectious disease studies and accommodate a bulk sterilizer for processing of cages from animals with experimental pathogens and carcinogens under conditions which meet compliance. 3. Replace one of the three air handler units (AHUs) that support the animal facility and the associated exhaust system. This 26 year old air handler is at the end of its functional lifespan and will be replaced with a new oversized unit to support additional future capacity and ease future renovations of the remaining AHUs. This project will support the successful research programs of 26 investigators with animals in McG that have extramural funding for a total of $18.9 million in annual direct cost funding, of which $183 million is NIH funding.