Core D(Experimental Animals) will provide centralized facilities and technical expertise to conduct in vivo experiments using Ad vectors in rodents. The primary resource of the animal core is a technician who will assist the scientists of the projects in the design and execution of animal experiments. The technician will train project scientists, assist in surgical procedures and dissection, and coordinate with RARC staff in the compliance with regulatory requirements. The technician will also stock and maintain procedure rooms, keep inventory, log procedures and inspect animals daily. The core will be located within a 3,000 square foot animal facility occupy part of a new Gene Therapy Core Facility which includes the other cores of this program project. The animal facility was designed specifically to house and manipulate animals employed in gene therapy studies under BSL2 conditions. To maintain rodents free of intercurrent infection with adventitious pathogens, they will be housed in individually ventilated isolator caging systems. The facility contains four animal holding rooms, one of which is equipped with five Illinois cubicles. Experimental procedure rooms contain multiple work areas for manipulating rodent models and a surgical suite for surgical delivery of vectors, if necessary. Underlying the core functions are the support staff, facilities, and programs of Cornell University Medical College's Research Animal Resource Center (RARC) including RARC's Research Animal Diagnostic Laboratory (RADL), which will provide expertise in clinical and anatomic pathology. All biological materials introduced into rodents housed in the core will be evaluated by the RADL for contamination with adventitious viruses and mycoplasma. The health status of rodents housed in the ore will be continuously monitored for contamination with adventitious pathogens.
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