Laboratory Animal Resource Improvements- Utah State University

Utah State University, Logan UT

Investigators

Abstract

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A 3,847 square foot animal biosafety-level 3 laboratory at Utah State University serves NIH funded investigators involved in viral disease and antiviral therapy research. The laboratory has been hampered and threatened with closure due to repeated failure of the sole pass-through autoclave supporting the laboratory. To better serve the needs of the researchers and minimize the impact of autoclave failure on current and future viral disease studies, we propose to install an additional pass-through autoclave. This second autoclave will increase decontamination capacity and, more importantly, provide redundancy to ensure continuous laboratory operation. This in turn will improve animal care by ensuring that research animals will not need to be euthanized unnecessarily, and by advancing research aimed at developing treatment for viral infections.