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RODENT HOUSING PLAN

To meet the needs of the Institution and the Research Staff five different categories of housing have been set up.

TRANSGENIC CORE: Transgenic housing – used only for housing mice during the process of creating a transgenic line (founder mice).

STRICT BARRIER: Strict barrier housing, limited access, minimal research activities.

BARRIER: Barrier housing with more options for individual research needs – this area is reserved for experimental procedures or animals that pose a greater risk than permitted under strict operating procedures maintained in the strict barrier.

CONTAINMENT: Containment (Infectious Disease Research) – used when animals must be clean, but are infected with some hazardous agent as part of the experimental protocol.

QUARANTINE: Quarantine (Animals from non-commercial sources).

RATIONALE: This management scheme for operating the rodent facilities is designed to meet research needs with minimal risk of entrance of infectious agents into the facilities. Ability to prevent contamination in these facilities depends on the full acceptance and cooperation of everyone, faculty and staff, in properly using the barriers and caging systems to prevent the introduction of infected animals or biologicals.

ACCESS LEVELS-

RESTRICTED- Access only to CMF specially trained transgenic staff members.
LIMITED- PI, research members listed on ACORP, assigned CMF facility staff.

CELL LINE TESTING- Cell lines are recognized as a major source of potential colony contamination and MAP testing must be performed on all cell lines. Contact Dr. John Lednicky at extension 64982.

ANIMAL MOVEMENT- Animals must remain in their assigned housing rooms. Once animals are removed from the facility, they cannot be returned. All procedures must be conducted in rooms contained within the barrier. Animals can be removed and returned only in the EMS Facility (Bldg. 110). Procedures and destinations must be detailed in an IACUC approved Animal Care and Use Protocol. It must be recognized that these animals will always be at greater risk of contamination than animals that never leave a facility.

PROTECTIVE CLOTHIING- Appropriate gowning procedures as posted must be followed in all facilities. Any special requirements are posted on animal room entrance doors. Required clothing is available in the respective facilities.

	Animals	Cage Systems	Sentinel Program	Environmental Monitoring	Material Used in Room	Access	Animal Movement	Infectious Research (2)	Biological Materials
Transgenic Core Bldg. 102, Room 0627	Mice	Cubicle + Ventilated caging	Sentinel/Investigator	Quarterly	All Sterile	Restricted	None	None	No
Strict Barrier Bldg. 102, 2nd floor	Mice	Ventilated caging	Sentinel/Investigator	Quarterly	All Sterile	Restricted / Limited	None	None	No
Strict Barrier Bldg. 102, 6th floor	Rodents	Ventilated caging	Standard	Quarterly	All Sterile	Limited	None	None	Yes
Strict Barrier Bldg. 112, Rooms 322	Mice	Ventilated caging	Standard	Quarterly	All Sterile	Limited	None	None	No
Strict Barrier Bldg. 112, Room 222	Nude/SCID Mice	Ventilated caging	Standard	Quarterly	All Sterile	Limited	None	None	No
Strict Barrier Bldg. 102, 3rd floor	Rats	Filter-Topped caging	Standard	Quarterly	Sanitized	Limited	None	None	No
Barrier Bldg. 110, Room 5261	Mice	Ventilated caging	Standard	Quarterly	All Sterile, Autoclave in & out	Limited	Limited (1)	None	Yes
Barrier Bldg. 110, Room 5263	Rats	Filter-Topped caging	Standard	Quarterly	All Sterile, Autoclave out	Limited	Limited (1)	None	Yes
Containment Bldg. 102, Room 0630	Various	Cubicle + Ventilated caging	Standard	Quarterly	All Sterile, Autoclave in & out	Limited	None	Yes	Yes
Quarantine Bldg. 110, Room 5241	Mice and Rats	Ventilated caging	Sentinel/Shipment	Quarterly	All Sterile, Autoclave in & out	Restricted	None	None	No

(1) Animals can be moved from facility into experimental areas (i.e., irradiator) and returned

(2) Infectious research - Projects that require special containment will be delineated during IACUC review of the protocol. Certain projects dealing with low-level infectious agents can be housed without containment.