The Ohio State University (OSU) requests $0.5M to renovate an existing vivarium to generate quarantine facilities on main campus for genetically engineered mice (GEM) and generate housing for transgenic zebrafish in support of the institution's entire biomedical research program. During the last fiscal year, mouse and zebrafish users at OSU have generated grants supporting over $69M in research funding. Over 75% of our current mouse and zebrafish researchers use genetically engineered models. The Rightmire Hall (RH) animal facility was built in 1990-91 and is located on the OSU West Campus one mile west of the OSU main campus. RH is located in the basement with 2,458 ft2 of space containing four animal holding rooms, rack washer, feed, bedding and clean cage storage, and a large minor procedure space. This proposal will upgrade the vivarium space, provide disposable caging systems to enhance biosecurity at the GEM quarantine and generate necessary zebrafish facilities in support of Neuroscience focused research at OSU. OSU is committed to upholding the NIH expectation that mouse resources generated with the aid of NIH funding will be distributed and shared with the scientific community in a timely manner. The majority of the mice imported into OSU are unique GEM and are not available from commercial sources. Quarantine is required for the import of GEM from non-commercial sources to avoid contamination of in house colonies. The use of new technologies has increased the efficiency of generating transgenic zebrafish lines;however, these improved approaches also require a substantial amount of space to be effective. The current zebrafish facility is shared by multiple researchers within an investigator maintained space with no expansion ability to generate the new transgenic and mutant lines required for ongoing research. The equipment requested in this proposal includes nine Inno-Vive single sided ventilated mouse racks with disposable cages and one 5-rack Aquatic Habitats system for zebrafish. Disposable caging will increase available space for animal housing;decrease personnel time and provide a green alternative consistent with OSU commitment to environmental responsibility. The requested 224 tank 5-shelf aquatic rack will accommodate an additional 10,640 fish. Two separate procedure rooms will also be generated to provide space for the genetic manipulation of zebrafish and for the colony maintenance of rodents in quarantine. By undertaking these renovations and equipment purchases, we anticipate being able to meet our goal of creating repurposing and modernizing a small aged vivarium, providing a centralized efficient rodent quarantine facility, and adding zebrafish housing space that is administratively centralized.
