The Morningside Campus of Columbia University, located at Broadway and 116th Street, includes, among others, the faculties of Columbia College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. It is a geographically separate entity from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and is covered by a separate assurance. At the Morningside Campus, animals are used in both basic biomedical research and in graduate and undergraduate instruction. The Morningside Animal Facility is housed in the Fairchild and Schermerhorn Buildings, which are connected by internal corridors, and administers, houses, maintains, and cares for these animals, which include rodents, lagomorphs, pigeons, amphibians, and invertebrates. This Facility requires modernization and reorganization if it is to furnish animal care of the highest quality for the University's current and future needs. In response to this, the University has recently developed a comprehensive plan, of which this grant proposal is only a part, to improve the Morningside Animal Facility so that it meets and exceeds the latest standards for animal care and use set by the NIH and other granting and regulatory organizations. Having done so, we will seek accreditation by American Association Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care. The University's objectives are to provide (1) an efficient and centralized administration of our Animal Facility, (2) a physical plant for the Animal Facility that conforms to the requirements of the 1985 NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, (3) expert care of our animal colonies, and comprehensive instruction for all personnel who handle animals, (4) adequate animal husbandry equipment, and (5) a modern surgery. This proposal requests partial support for these objectives. The remainder of the costs will be provided by the University. The organizational and procedural changes called for by our plan have begun. The construction of new animal housing rooms and improvement of the air conditioning in the Facility began during April, 1986. We plan to have all aspects of our new Facility completed by August, 1987. This, in conjunction with our new administrative structure and animal husbandry program, should insure that biomedical research and training at the Morningside Campus will exceed the standards for animal care and use stipulated in the 1985 NIH Guide and that Columbia University will maintain and advance its pre-eminent role in research and education.
