Funds are requested for construction of an animal biosafety level (ABSL) 2 and 3 facility and insectary in 4,539 square feet of shelled space in the Keillar, Building located on the campus of the University of Texas Medial Branch (UTMP) in Galveston. This animal facility will support research in emerging infectious diseases, toxicology and pathology. As a long-term objective, UTMB, an Hispanic Center of Excellence, has committed to become a major national and international resource for research and training on emerging infectious diseases. The Keiller Building house the Department of Pathology; in addition, the administrative offices for the Center for Tropical Diseases (CTD), as well as the research laboratories of most of the faculty affiliated with the CTD, are also located in the building. The UTMB Center for Tropical Diseases, inaugurated in 1994, became the first center in the United States to be designated a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases in 1995. The 33 research faculty comprising the CTD study a wide range of viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic pathogens of major public health importance to the developing world and, increasingly, to the United States. The Keiller Building also houses the World Reference Center for Arboviruses which serve as a WHO Collaborating Center for Arboviral Diseases and Hemorrhagic Fevers. The interdisciplinary toxicology program at UTMB includes an NIEHS Training Grant, directed through the Department of Pathology where 24 faculty maintain active research in chemical injury, environmental toxicology, molecular oncogenesis, neuropathology, and cardiovascular disease. The Experimental Pathology graduate program, initiated in 1993, now supports 30 Ph.D. students.
The specific aims of this construction grant proposal are to provide these scientists and trainees with state-of-the-art facilities to study infectious diseases, toxicology and pathology in laboratory animals and in the close proximity to their research laboratories.
