ARI-R2: Renovation of the North Carolina State University Phytotron for Improved Environmental Control and BSL-3 Containment

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The four-story NCSU (North Carolina State University) Phytotron built in 1968 with most of the construction (~$1.5M) and first eight years of operating funds provided by the NSF, followed by 33 years of maintenance and staffing provided by NCSU. After 42 years of continuous operation the NCSU Phytotron is in dire need of upgrades to meet present and growing demands for controlled environmental research with model and relevant plants, insects and small animals. This award provides funds to provide critical infrastructure upgrades include: (1) renovating and upgrading the core environmental systems specifically replacing chillers and pumps, re-insulating chilled water and glycol lines to accept the recent connection to university chilled water lines. Applying epoxy coating to chamber and greenhouse floors; (2) replacement of controllers modulating the environmental conditions for individual environmental chambers with sensitive digital CO2 controls; and (3) conversion of one rooftop glasshouses and adjacent plant dark room into a BSL-3 facility for funded research with select agents and other exotic high risk viral, bacterial, fungal and nematode plant pathogens. As NC State is a premier plant biology institution, this NSF-funded legacy is an invaluable University-wide facility that is used in many federally funded research projects and is a focal point for training and research at all levels. Into the future the infrastructure renovations will allow the Phytotron to be a key public large-scale high-throughput plant phenotypic analyses facility. NC State graduate, undergraduates as well as summer REU program students from non-Research I universities and other outreach programs for underrepresented groups use the Phytotron for independent research projects under the direction of a diverse faculty who serve as role models and mentors. The renovations will have immediate scientific impacts as NCSU researchers will undertake more sensitive global climate change studies and acquire pathogens and microbes from collaborators around the world housed in the centralized BSL-3 facility certified to meet or exceed federal and state containment guidelines. The NCSU Phytotron renovations will maintain NC States broad and robust integrated contemporary biology community and greatly increase the collaborative potential and competitiveness of NCSU in these fields.