This application requests grant support for the improvement of laboratory animal resources at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA). These improvements are required to insure compliance with the Animal Welfare Act, are important for the retention of the AAALAC accreditation and are needed to enhance, promote, and expand our program of humane, high quality animal care and research support. Specifically, funding is requested for the purchase of equipment to replace or upgrade items in our experimental surgery area and to increase the capability of our clinical pathology laboratories. Existing equipment in the experimental surgery area is old, in poor repair and does not permit proper monitoring and is inadequate for experimental surgery and anesthetic procedures. Increasingly complex surgical research requires more modern anesthetic equipment and surgical support apparatus to assure patient well-being and safe, humane experimental surgery. This is critical, and necessary, to bring our program and facility into a position where a modern state of the art surgery program can be maintained. As the program of laboratory animal care at UTHSCSA expands, increased clinical pathology support is required to insure adequate quality control and patient monitoring can be maintained throughout the colony. The equipment requested will be used in support of a laboratory animal colony used in research, teaching, and testing supported by government and private grants and contracts totalling $14.5 million.
