EMERGENCY POWER AND QUARANTINE CAGING

Wright State University, Dayton OH

Investigators

Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): [unreadable] This alteration and renovation project has two primary specific aims. The first aim is to install a diesel emergency electrical generator to provide electrical power to the LAR facility during power outages. The continuous operation of lighting; heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning equipment is critical to providing a stable environment for laboratory animals housed and used in biomedical research. Electrical power is also critical to many of the PHS-funded projects using animals at WSU including those involving retinal degeneration, hyperbaric environmental conditions, and surgical procedures. Electrical failure would result in a catastrophic loss of these vital functions resulting in variations or the invalidation of biomedical research results along with potential animal illness and death. Because of the animal facility's basement location, the effect of electrical failure is compounded by the resulting lack of service elevator function, severely hampering animal removal and relocation during emergencies. For these reasons, the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals states, "in the event of power failure, an alternative or emergency power supply should be available to maintain critical services... ." The second aim is to increase the LAR's capability to receive and quarantine mice from other institutions. Quarantine and isolation of incoming animals is a critical component of the veterinary preventive medical program to prevent the introduction and spread of infectious diseases throughout the facility. The steadily increasing level of externally funded biomedical research at WSU along with the increased utilization of genetically modified mice from various research centers has dramatically increased the need for animal quarantine and isolation. This has resulted in a number of animal rooms being occupied by a small number of animals undergoing quarantine while other investigators, including PHS-funded investigators, are unable to order animals due to the unavailability of animal rooms. The purchase of a negative pressure high efficiency particulate air (HEPA)-filtered animal rack system for mice and a biological safety cabinet for animal manipulations will permit quarantine of incoming mice from multiple institutions in a single animal room, instead of many, freeing additional animal rooms for biomedical research efforts. [unreadable] [unreadable]