The general objectives of this project are to provide centralized animal surgical facilities for supporting survival surgery in non- rodent species. These facilities would support surgical research activities from multiple departments within the School of Medicine, as well as allow for the provision of """"""""adequate veterinary care"""""""" for laboratory animals requiring surgical treatment for clinical problems. The rationale behind the proposed renovations is to upgrade existing surgical facilities in two separate buildings. These facilities are currently unsuitable for procedures requiring volatile anesthetic agents and lack some of the technical requirements listed in the current NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. The renovated facilities will be used by the Central Animal Facility in providing adequate veterinary care for the colonies of laboratory animals housed at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The major research programs utilizing the renovated facility include a reproductive/endocrinology study involving baboons, an obesity study involving rhesus monkeys, a study of fetal and neonatal respiration involving sheep and numerous other smaller projects involving survival surgery in non-rodent species.
