IMMUNE MECHANISMS CONTROLLING INFLAMMATION*

Dartmouth College, Hanover NH

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): DMS is currently experiencing a Mouse Hepatitis outbreak that is going to drastically affect the research of all investigators in the five-year COBRE award "Immune Mechanisms Controlling Inflammation and Cancer", which was awarded on 9/01/02 to DMS, with participation of several key investigators at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). COBRE funding provides support to recruit new tenure track faculty at DMS and UNH, and funds five research projects headed by junior faculty members. Three core facilities support this project, including Core C, an existing rodent shared facility and service. In Core C, non-commercially available transgenic and knock-out mouse strains are bred, and several new transgenic strains will be developed. All the research projects have current or planned needs for such rodent strains. The scientific goals of the project critically depend upon the analyses of truly SPF mice so that the data analyses are not confounded by the impact of infectious agents. The rodent barrier proposed in this application will help prevent the recurrence of loss of important research data due to mouse pathogen infection. Mice used in this COBRE award are housed in the Borwell Animal Resource Center (BARC). The BARC facility is in excellent condition; however, it was not designed to provide the large scale barrier housing of rodents needed for today's sophisticated research. The increasing incidence of rodent pathogens, the development of irreplaceable genetically-manipulated mice, and the increase in collaborative efforts between institutions using these mice has made it imperative to provide greater levels of biosecurity to protect research animals and,thus, research results. DMS has recently begun a multi-year project to provide high-density ventilated racks with change stations for murine housing in the BARC. This effort would be greatly enhanced by creating a barrier with the capacity to autoclave all the racks and caging, with an area for appropriate personnel preparation, and an increase in the number of procedure areas within the barrier to minimize transport of animals into potentially contaminated areas such as elevators and laboratories. This application requests funds to enclose roughly 6,300 sq. ft. of the BARC to create a rodent barrier facility. The scope of this renovation will include: 1) enhancement of the existing security systems; 2) installation of a 249 cubic ft. autoclave into the barrier; creation of an entry area with air shower, restroom and change facilities; and 3) creation of three additional procedure rooms within the barrier facility.