The Vanderbilt University (VU) research programs have remained stable or grown in recent years, even in the face of uncertain financial times and changes to the nation's health care system. In fiscal year (FY) 2015, over 479 research investigators were funded by the NIH and support for competitive research grants from all external sources exceeded $449 million. Benchmarks suggest continued modest growth through 2020. Thus, VU finds itself faced with the competing and extremely challenging demands of growth and infrastructure maintenance in a climate of declining revenue streams. This application requests funds to address the animal research infrastructure need deemed currently to be the highest priority. Specifically funds are requested to enhance containment practices and operational efficiency of Vanderbilt's Preston Research Building (PRB) Rodent Facility. Existing cage wash space will be redesigned and an underutilized janitorial storage space renovated to expand the PRB clean cage wash area. Doing so will improve efficiency of the PRB rodent facility and provide dedicated storage space for clean caging, food, and bedding. In addition, a new automated bedding dispenser system and three custom configured bottle filler manifolds will replace aged equipment that are operationally inefficient and create the risk of ergonomic injury. The new equipment, which will be more utility- and space-efficient, will improve operations within the PRB facility and provide for redundancy with other cage wash facilities on campus. The improvements will be used to directly support the ongoing research of 106 productive VU faculty investigators with a total of over $63.3 million in NIH awards (annual total costs) from 14 institutes. If funded, this application will provide a mechanism for Vanderbit to maintain existing infrastructure while it continues to invest in space and equipment required to support new initiatives and growth of its successful research programs.
