? The long-term goal of the animal resource program of the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) is to provide an animal resource infrastructure to support and expand the capacity and sophistication of animal-related biomedical research. MU is a land grant university with the unique distinction of having a College of Veterinary Medicine, a School of Medicine, a Division of Biological Sciences, and a College of Agriculture on one campus. In the past five years, extramural research awards to MU have increased 72%, from $73.2 million in FY1998 to $126.1 million in FY2002. Many of these projects involve animal-related research. The animal resource infrastructure at MU is aged but functional. Facilities are operating at maximum capacity and are in need of upgrading to meet the degree of sophistication required in biomedical research today, to assure regulatory compliance with the Animal Welfare Act and the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and to maintain AAALAC accreditation. MU has developed an overall plan to expand and upgrade animal facilities and programs. This request for improvement is part of that plan. ? ? This proposal addresses space, regulatory and safety issues within the School of Medicine's animal facility located in the Medical Sciences Building via three aims: 1) Expand the rodent barrier capacity 46% (from 1518 to 2210 net square feet) to meet the needs for housing transgenic and knockout mice; 2) Provide a safer work environment in the autoclave area by renovating the clean side of the cage wash facility to include the autoclave preparation area in order to eliminate a cramped, dangerous preparation area and adding an autoclave for cages entering the barrier; 3) Provide reliable environmental conditions in 12 animal rooms by replacing two HVAC units. ? ?
