? The purpose of this application is to acquire movable equipment - specifically, 15 ventilated rodent rack systems - for an expanded animal resource facility at the MUSC that is being built within the new Children's Research Institute (CRI). The CRI building is an annex of the existing Basic Science Building (BSB), and the new CRI animal facility is horizontally integrated with the existing BSB animal facility on the conjoined seventh floor of both structures. All animal resource facilities at MUSC are part of the centralized animal care and use program of the Division of Laboratory Animal Resources (DLAR). DLAR manages a specific pathogen free (SPF) animal resource environment. MUSC utilizes a formal strategic, planning process with annual review in the development and management of all animal resource facilities. DLAR staff, members of the IACUC, and faculty investigators participate in this planning process. Through this planning process, ventilated racks have been identified as the preferred method of housing SPF rodents. National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research at MUSC has increased dramatically in recent years. In the past five years, the number of NIH awards to investigators at MUSC has increased from 134 in FY 1996 to 223 in FY 2001; awards are currently received from at least 20 different institutes and centers at NIH. MUSC has had an accompanying increase in the use of animals in research, especially genetically manipulated mice. The new CRI animal facility is part of a campus-wide plan to provide adequate housing for pathogen free animals for research to meet anticipated needs during the next decade. The ventilated racks requested in this application will facilitate this objective by allowing higher density and improved biosecurity to relieve current housing shortages and provide expansion space for future recruitment and continued research growth. ? ? ?
