Housing and analysis facilities for miniature and transgenic swine: a biomedical resource

North Carolina State University Raleigh, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall aim of this project is to develop new capabilities for the housing and analysis of miniature and/or transgenic swine requiring BSL2 containment. Presently, we have limited facilities for housing and studying transgenic and non-transgenic commercial swine, and no capabilities for BSL2 pig housing. Moreover, there are significant limitations to working with commercial swine breeds due to the amount of space and caging requirements needed to care for adult pigs that can exceed 400 pounds in weight. This leads to significant restriction in the number of animals that can be studied at a time, limits the investigation to only phenotypes that can be studied in young animals that have not yet reached a mature body weight, and restricts the ability to widely distribute these valuable lines to other biomedical programs. In order to fully exploit the potential of swine as a biomedical model it is important that in the future these valuable lines be generated in miniature breeds. Additionally, with novel and highly efficient methods of generation of transgenic swine being developed, the miniature pig is poised to become an important large animal model in areas such as regenerative medicine. Therefore, based on our current and future needs it is important that we both expand and add additional swine housing capabilities. Due to the unique character of the proposed facilities this will affect not only work being done by NC State investigators but also ongoing and future collaborations with institutions throughout the Eastern USA. Equally important, all transgenic lines generated in this facility will be sent to the NIH- funded National Swine Resource and Research Center for distribution to any interested investigator. Thus, the impact of this facility is much broader than NC State and nearby universities. Our long-term goal is to be a leading swine resource facility for biomedical research. As part of our ongoing expansion efforts we propose to remodel existing animal holding and procedural areas.