AIDS SPF Rhesus Monkey Breeding Facility Expansion

Tulane University Of Louisiana, New Orleans LA

Investigators

Abstract

Project Summary ? Abstract The Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC) of Tulane University is one of seven National Primate Research Centers (NPRC) sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. The Center is dedicated to providing the infrastructure and support for basic and applied research efforts to advance scientific knowledge and improve human and animal health and well-being. The TNPRC AIDS research program is the largest research program at the Center, currently accounting for 61% of all grant funding and 84% of animals assigned to research. Over the past five years the TNPRC SPF breeding colonies have produced between 200-700 infants a year and provided 2,582 animals for research programs for core and affiliate investigators with the vast majority assigned to AIDS related studies. The TNPRC is one of only three centers in the US with an expanded SPF (eSPF) breeding program that supplies animals with an increased viral exclusion profile over regular SPF, which includes opportunistic agents commonly seen in immunosuppressed disease states. These animals have been critical in the study of the pathogenesis of opportunistic disease in AIDS. Currently, there is high demand for SPF and eSPF macaques on a national level which requires the continued availability of these resources. The demand is especially high for eSPF rhesus macaques. Funding is requested to construct an indoor/outdoor facility on the TNPRC breeding colony campus with the primary purpose of housing and breeding eSPF rhesus. Three buildings, each with 12 separate indoor/outdoor enclosures, will be linked within a former corral fencing structure on a concrete slab with epoxy flooring and trough drainage. Each of the social housing enclosures will allow housing of 10-15, animals outdoors with free access to indoor caging units (total of 540 animals). The indoor group housing area will have heating and ventilation with chute and tunnel systems for access to animals for husbandry and preventative medicine program procedures. The animals produced as a result of this infrastructure improvement will help address the national shortage of eSPF/SPF macaques for AIDS research.