The Animal Facility is a separate building consisting of four floors and 27 rooms, primarily for holding rodents. All rooms are humidity and temperature controlled. Air flow is balanced to reduce airborne contamination from animals and personnel. Automatic lighting is provided in each animal room. A single corridor system is used on the second floor and clean/dirty corridor systems are used on the third and fourth floors. All supplies are sterilized before being placed in the clean corridor. The first floor is mainly a service area housing the cage washers, a cold room, an autoclave, offices, quarantine room, and supply storage. The third floor contains SCID/RAG-1, CB-17 SCID, and C3H SCID breeding rooms. Micro-injection and procedural laboratories are also located on this floor. The fourth floor is used for housing experimental animals and contains two common-use rooms, two containment rooms, and one room containing isolators. The facility contains the equipment required to maintain and support the resource. The Animal Facility offers centralized ordering of all animals, examination of animals upon arrival, routine monitoring of animals for health status, collection of blood samples for viral screening, collection of organs for histopathology, clipping of nails and teeth, grooming of coats and furs, and administration of medication. Special rooms are provided for containment, athymic nude mice, SCID mice, and quarantine. These special rooms have separate operating procedures, isolation compartments with individual exhaust systems, and a biosafety hood. Health monitoring is accomplished by the use of sentinel animals, testing of animals while in quarantine, and the use of an approved vendor list. Security of the facility is maintained by limiting access to authorized personnel only. During normal working hours, all individuals entering the Animal Facility must pass the facility office. Individuals not recognized by the supervisory staff are stopped and asked for proper identification. The animal health surveillance program includes serological and bacteriological testing by independent diagnostic laboratories. Samples are taken from rodents on a rotating basis for common murine viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Endo- and ecto-parasite testing is completed either by a veterinary technician or the consulting veterinarian. The veterinarian is responsible for animal health and for reviewing the husbandry and management of the facility. Coverage for emergencies and for unusual animal health difficulties is provided by two additional veterinarians on-call. The institution encourages and supports American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) certification for the animal technicians and managers. There are two committees involved in animal care and use oversight. The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) meets once a month and is responsible for the review and approval of all animal use protocols and the duties outlined in the Animal Welfare Regulations. This committee is responsible for evaluating all aspects of animal care and use including protocol review. The Animal Facility Advisory Committee (AFAC) meets monthly to review policy implementation and to discuss problems and future needs. The Facility Director, veterinarian, and manager attend regularly scheduled weekly meetings to discuss problems and inspect the facility.
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