This project will renovate the most critical University of California Davis (UC Davis) cage wash facility by replacing a 34 year old tunnel-style cage washer and also by purchasing and installing a cooling-ventilation system which currently does not exist. The K2 building is an open-air design that does not have a sanitary, vermin-proof environment. After the equipment purchased is installed, the university will complete renovations to completely enclose the clean side. This stand-alone core facility operated by the Center for Laboratory Animal Science (CLAS) provides cage washing services for 12 campus animal facilities and for two more facilities that are in the planning stage. Animals in these facilities are used on 90 projects that have a total direct award amount of $120,244,000, of which $84,620,000 is NIH-funded. The total represents 42 Principal Investigators (PIs) in the UC Davis School of Medicine, College of Biological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, College of Letters and Science: Social Sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and the Biotechnology Program. Twenty-one additional projects which total $25,274,000 will start after September 1, 2008. The upgrades described in the application will dramatically increase reliability, improve efficiency, and most importantly provide a high level of cage sanitation. This project is necessary to ensure the health of campus laboratory animal colonies.
