The University of Arizona's (UA) research programs focus on many of the Healthy People 2010 goals including increasing the life span and improving the quality of life of Arizonans and Americans through disease prevention, understanding of basic physiological and pathological processes, discovery of new treatments, and development of life-saving techniques and instrumentation. Animal use plays a vital role in many areas of research, and increased use of animals has coincided with the expansion of biomedical research programs and completion of buildings, which are housing new faculty recruits. Two of the new buildings, The Keating BIO5 Institute for Biomedical Science and Biotechnology and the Medical Research Building (MRB), are to house biomedical researchers who will utilize animals. The two buildings will share a vivarium, which is being completed in the first phase of BIO5 construction (opening Fall 2008). The BIO5 animal facility will be primarily dedicated to the generation and maintenance of genetically engineered mice (40,000 mouse capacity) and will be operated to maximize mouse reproduction, while also optimizing the exclusion of infectious disease. The focus of this request is to assist in the purchase of ventilated housing systems (IVC) for mice, which will be housed in the BIO5 Animal Facility. The equipment will be utilized for PHS-funded research and for the Genetically Engineered Mouse Modeling Core Facility (GEMM Core), which will generate mice for many different animal users. The use of IVC has many benefits. These include improved environment for animals and personnel, increased productivity of breeding animals and research, reduced costs of research, and the ability to maximize animal housing space. The purchase of the IVC will promote the well-bing of both mice and personnel and provide reduced costs for research.
