The goal of the project is to provide equipment (l) to rederive colonies of rodents which have a variety of endemic pathogenic organisms, (2) to maintain these and other valuable rodents colonies in barrier facilities, and (3) to quarantine newly arriving rodents. The equipment requested includes microisolator cages, HEPA filtered changing hoods, and individually ventilated caging systems. The equipment will be used in our existing facilities and an additional facility currently under construction. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been successful in creating viral antibody free rodent colonies in many of the animal facilities. However, the lack of appropriate equipment has hampered the ability to establish VAF rodent colonies in our major facilities for rodents and places our VAF colonies at great risk of contamination. This proposal seeks funding to provide the necessary equipment to establish and maintain specific pathogen rodents campus wide.
