? In response to PAR-04-122, Trudeau Institute submits a revised proposal to request matching funds to expand and improve its research core facilities. Trudeau Institute is a small, not-forprofit research institute focused on identifying mechanisms that regulate immunity to infectious disease, autoimmunity and cancer in young and aged individuals.
The research aims of Trudeau investigators directly address the national goals of improving human health and increasing our ability to respond to emerging infectious diseases and bioterrorist threats. Trudeau Institute is part of a Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense research and holds numerous PHS grants, totaling almost $7,000,000 in direct costs. Research at Trudeau Institute is dependent on state-of-the-art core facilities, including the Animal, Molecular Biology, Flow Cytometry and Animal Technical Services cores. However, these cores must be expanded and improved to meet the current and future research needs of the investigators. For example, the ABSL-2 and ABSL-3 facilities are 40 years old and require major updating and expansion. In addition, the Molecular Biology, Flow Cytometry and Animal Technical Services cores need to be consolidated and expanded. Therefore, we propose to construct a new building that will house mice requiring ABSL-2 (Aim 1), ABSL-3 (Aim 2) or quarantine level containment (Aim 3). The new building will also provide animal facility infrastructure and equipment needed to conduct infectious disease research (Aim 4). Finally, we propose to renovate the space currently used for housing infected animals in order to provide expanded, consolidated and contiguous space for the Molecular Biology, Flow Cytometry and the Animal Technical Services Cores (Aim 5). ? ?