This G20 application proposes to renovate, repair and redesign core research laboratories at the University of Minnesota. The two main outcomes will be highly beneficial to NIH funded faculty researchers: 1) enable the juxtaposition of newly renovated, high quality research core facilities adjacent to existing university animal husbandry;and 2) consolidate existing and future state-of-the-art imaging and animal behavior and physiology phenotyping cores into one central location to provide a unique one-stop facility for faculty and their research teams. The proposed Animal Physiology, Behavioral Phenotyping and Imaging (APBPI) research core will serve hundreds of researchers across multiple centers, institutes, departments and colleges. The project aims to completely renovate 7,023 SF of the 1st floor of Jackson Hall on the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota. Jackson Hall is in an ideal location. It is centrally located relative to the majority of biomedical research buildings and 3,248 SF of the proposed renovation is located adjacent to the main Research Animal Resources vivarium that supports animal research. Although there has been extensive renovation of the 2nd - 6th floors of Jackson Hall over the years, present functionality of the 1st floor is minimal due to its inefficient design and the lack of updating. There are two Specific Aims: 1) Renovate the North Wing of the 1st floor of Jackson Hall (3,042 SF) to accommodate the relocation and expansion of the existing Biomedical Imaging Processing Laboratory (BIPL). This will also serve as the base for substantial new investments in imaging, including whole animal imaging, by the University of Minnesota. 2) Renovate the South Wing of the 1st floor of Jackson Hall (3,981 SF) with approximately 50% of the space to accommodate the establishment of a behavioral phenotyping core facility and the other 50% devoted to whole animal physiological analysis. The renovation will include state-of-the-art facilities for learning/memory, exercise/activity, aversion/pain assessment, and cardiovascular, muscular and metabolic monitoring in living rodents over periods of days to months. The South Wing renovation will also include surgical suites for both acute and recovery procedures for all core functions. The proposed redesign and renovation will create modern core research laboratories with the capacity to serve large numbers of basic and translational biomedical investigators at the University of Minnesota.
