Ventilated Rodent Caging for the University of Delaware Life Science Research Facility

摘要/项目摘要 特拉华州大学的生命科学研究设施（LSRF）是一个29,000平方英尺的动物园， 这里住着老鼠和草原田鼠该设施目前支持31个不同的生物医学研究 主要研究者（PI），是NIH资助的IdeA生物医学研究网络的核心设施 卓越（INBRE）。INBRE的两个合作机构，特拉华州州立大学和Christiana Care Gene 编辑学院，也在LSRF家养动物。最近，COBRE-funded特拉华州中心， 肌肉骨骼研究中心成立于2021年，中心拥有动物模型核心 在LSRF中。自2020年以来使用该设施的PI已获得总计5000万美元的研究奖励 （总奖金，所有来源）包括1300万美元的NIH生物医学研究卓越中心（COBRE）， 特拉华州的500万美元与INBRE等相匹配。 大学在过去十年中，包括战略努力，在利用LSRF的领域增长。地区 包括生物医学工程、生物科学、言语和语言障碍以及神经科学。的 在该设施中饲养的小鼠和草原田鼠的平均数量比2008年增加了约62%。 过去5年。据预测，这种增长将继续下去，目前的啮齿动物住房已接近容量。 这项拨款申请是为了增加通风的啮齿动物笼，以增加啮齿动物的住房容量， LSRF使缺乏啮齿动物的住房空间将不会产生负面影响的日益增长的研究计划 特拉华州大学。拟议的扩大通风啮齿动物笼舍不仅会提高效率 使用空间比老式的微隔离笼，它将提高动物的健康和福祉。 通风笼舍通过减少动物暴露改善啮齿动物健康和研究再现性 由于空气循环增加，来自尿液的氨，并降低动物 因为空气是HEPA净化的。通风的笼子也减少了动物的压力（和风险）。 这种压力混淆了研究结果），因为动物被处理得更少，因为笼子需要的频率更低 改变作为副产品，这减少了人员暴露于过敏原，并降低了运营成本 因为每个动物管理员可以照顾更多的动物。

Abstract/Project Summary The Life Science Research Facility (LSRF) at the University of Delaware is a 29,000 sq ft vivarium, which houses mice, rats and prairie voles. This facility currently supports the biomedical research of 31 different Principal Investigators (PIs) and is a core facility for the NIH-funded IdeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE). Two partner institutions in INBRE, Delaware State University and Christiana Care Gene Editing Institute, also house animals in the LSRF. Most recently the COBRE-funded Delaware Center for Musculoskeletal Research was established in 2021, and the Center has an animal model core incorporated within the LSRF. PIs that have used the facility since 2020 have secured a total of $50M in research awards (total award dollars, all sources) including a $13M NIH Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE), $5M State of Delaware match to INBRE, etc. There have been significant increases in faculty hiring at the University over the last decade, including strategic efforts to grow in areas that leverage the LSRF. Areas include biomedical engineering, biological sciences, speech and language disorders, and neuroscience. The average numbers of mice and prairie voles housed in the facility has increased by approximately 62% over the last 5 years. It is projected that this growth will continue, and the current rodent housing is nearing capacity. This grant request is for additional ventilated rodent caging to increase the rodent housing capacity of the LSRF so that lack of rodent housing space will not negatively impact the growing research programs of the University of Delaware. Not only will the proposed expansion of ventilated rodent caging make more efficient use of space than the older microisolator caging, it will improve the health and well-being of the animals. Ventilated caging improves rodent health and research reproducibility by decreasing the exposure of animals to ammonia derived from urine due to increased air circulation and decreases the risk of the animals to pathogen exposure as the air is HEPA purified. Ventilated caging also decreases animal stress (and risk of such stress confounding research results) as animals are handled less because cages need less frequent changing. As a byproduct, this decreases exposure of personnel to allergens and decreases operational costs as more animals can be cared for by each animal caretaker.