Improvement to the Animal Facility HVAC System at the Monell Chemical Senses Center

莫内尔化学感官中心动物设施 HVAC 系统的改进

基本信息

批准号：
8902318
负责人：
DANIELLE Renee REED
金额：
$ 49.78万
依托单位：
MONELL CHEMICAL SENSES CENTER
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2015
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2015-07-15 至 2018-07-14
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8902318
关键词：
Accounting Accreditation Affect Age Aging Air American Animal Housing Animal Model Animals Biology Breeding Caring Chemicals Cities Comparative Biology Complement Contracts Deterioration Emergency Situation Engineering Ensure Environment Extravasation Failure Ferrets Funding Goals Guidelines Health Heart Heating Humidity IACUC Institutes Laboratory Animal Medicine Laboratory Animals Lead Licensing Location Maintenance Major Histocompatibility Complex Mechanics Microtus Miniature Swine Mission Mus Paper Parents Particulate Pennsylvania Plumbing Principal Investigator Procedures Publishing Rattus Recovery Reporting Research Research Institute Research Project Grants Role Safety Science Scientist Sensory Services Shrews Side Smell Perception System Taste Buds Taste Perception Temperature Testing Time Training United States United States Department of Agriculture United States National Institutes of Health Universities Update Veterinarians Work animal care animal facility authority building renovation college design and construction exhaust experience human disease improved non-compliance nonhuman primate offspring operation programs square foot sweet taste perception

项目摘要

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The aim of this application is to improve the Animal Facility of the Monell Chemical Senses Center and facilitate its accreditation by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC). A not-for-profit research institute [501(c)(3)], Monell was founded in 1968 with a unique mission to investigate the basic biology of taste and smell. This institute, originally part of the University of Pennsylvania, is in the heart of the University City Science Center, the largest and oldest urban research center in the United States. Monell's research is supported predominantly by the National Institutes of Health and other governmental agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The annual research conducted at Monell totals $16M. Animals -- mostly mice, rats, and ferrets -- are now used by 12 research programs at Monell and account for nearly $6M research dollars spent annually. Most research now is conducted with mice, but in the past, animal studies have used nonhuman primates, meadow voles, musk shrews, mini-swine, and wild-caught animals housed in the facility. Research projects on taste and smell conducted with animals housed at Monell have resulted in discoveries that have influenced the direction and scope of research programs on taste and smell, nationally and internationally. For instance, the sweet taste receptor was identified in a mouse study at Monell, as was the role of the major histocompatibility complex in parents' ability to identify offspring by smell. Monell is also well known for its work on comparative biology. Monell's current facility of animal care was established in 1971. In 1989 it was gutted and rebuilt, in part with NIH funds. The animal care and use program at Monell is well developed: It has operated successfully for the past 43 years and is licensed by the USDA, with no non-compliant findings. Our goal is to update our ~10,800 square foot Animal Facility and obtain accreditation by AAALAC. To accomplish this goal, we need to replace the air-handling unit that supplies the Animal Facility. This unit functions poorly and is in imminent danger of failing due to its age. Its lack of redundancy makes maintenance difficult, because emergency procedures must often be used to support the animal environment while work is performed on it. The prospect of catastrophic failure grows more likely with each passing month. Although temperature and humidity can usually be maintained within the range required for animal safety, these parameters often deviate too much for optimal research conditions, with unacceptable swings in humidity becoming increasingly common. Moreover, the amount of heat recovery has decreased over time and this deficit has accelerated recently due to deterioration of the system's coils. This problem is very difficult to fix, because the tight location of key parts of the unit makes cleaning and servicing the heat exchange coils almost impossible. There is also an immediate concern that leakage in the discharge side of the exhaust ductwork may lead to air-borne contaminants (particulate material) that could affect the health of our animals and interfere with sensory testing in our research programs. Our plan is to replace the aging primary air-handling system with a new system that features redundancy, ease of maintenance access, significantly improved energy recovery, and corrections to the exhaust system to reduce air-borne particulates. This new system is projected to be at least 20% more energy efficient over the existing unit's peak efficiency (which is no longer realized) and will provide significantly better control over temperature and humidity. Monell has a clear line of authority for managing its Animal Facility. Monell's Director supervises the Director of Facilities Management, who manages the Animal Facility and the program of animal care under the guidance of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). She has nearly three decades of experience in this role, has managed several major renovations at Monell over the years, and will be the Project Manager. An expert Building Engineer, who is responsible for electrical, plumbing, and mechanical aspects of the buildings, reports to the Director of Facilitie Management. The Principal Investigator of this application is a scientist with 30 years of experience at Monell, with funded projects that rely heavily on mouse breeding and over 100 published papers on animal models of human disease, who also has served on Monell's IACUC. An experienced American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine board-certified laboratory animal Attending Veterinarian has been guiding Monell's program of animal care and use since 1982, including the original design and construction of the Animal Facility, IACUC responsibilities and functions, animal care operations, veterinary care, training, and compliance. The expert Mechanical Engineer that Monell contracted for this application has project management expertise, has participated in many major renovations of this building, and provided detailed line drawings for this application. He complements the expert and experienced team that Monell has assembled for this essential renovation project. Air-handling renovations described in this proposal will result in necessary and important improvements to Monell's facilities of animal care, thereby ensuring the health and safety of its animals and the quality of chemosensory research on which Monell relies. By replacing the most obsolete part of the Animal Facility, we will ensure that environmental conditions for the animals will be within the AAALAC accreditation guidelines.

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请的目的是改善莫内尔化学感官中心的动物设施，并促进其获得实验动物护理评估和认证协会 (AAALAC) 的认证，这是一项非营利性研究。莫内尔研究所 [501(c)(3)] 成立于 1968 年，其独特使命是研究味觉和嗅觉的基础生物学。该研究所最初隶属于宾夕法尼亚大学，位于美国宾夕法尼亚大学。莫奈尔大学城科学中心是美国最大、最古老的城市研究中心，其研究主要得到美国国立卫生研究院和美国农业部等其他政府机构的支持。总计 1600 万美元。莫内尔大学目前有 12 个研究项目使用动物（主要是小鼠、大鼠和雪貂），每年花费近 600 万美元的研究资金，但在过去，动物研究使用了设施内饲养的非人类灵长类动物、草地田鼠、麝香鼩、小型猪和野生捕获的动物。对莫内尔饲养的动物进行的味觉和嗅觉研究项目产生了影响方向和范围的发现。例如，莫内尔大学的一项小鼠研究中发现了甜味受体，以及主要组织相容性复合物在父母通过气味识别后代的能力中的作用。莫内尔大学还因其在比较生物学方面的工作而闻名。莫内尔大学目前的动物护理设施于 1971 年建立。1989 年，该设施被拆除并重建，部分资金来自 NIH。莫内尔大学的动物护理和使用计划发展良好：过去 43 年来一直成功运营，并获得了美国农业部 (USDA) 的许可，没有任何不合规的发现。我们的目标是更新我们约 10,800 平方英尺的动物设施，并获得美国农业部 (USDA) 的认证。 AAALAC。为了实现这一目标，我们需要更换为动物设施供电的空气处理装置。该装置运行不佳。由于其老化，其缺乏冗余使得维护变得困难，因为在对其进行工作时必须经常使用紧急程序来支持动物环境，并且随着每次通过，灾难性故障的可能性越来越大。尽管温度和湿度通常可以维持在动物安全所需的范围内，但这些参数对于最佳研究条件来说往往偏差太大，湿度不可接受的波动变得越来越普遍，而且随着时间的推移，热量回收量逐渐减少。这种赤字最近加速了，因为系统盘管损坏这个问题很难解决，因为设备关键部件的位置太紧，几乎不可能对热交换盘管进行清洁和维修。此外，还存在一个直接问题：排气侧的泄漏。管道系统可能会产生空气污染物（颗粒物质），从而影响动物的健康并干扰我们研究项目中的感官测试。我们的计划是用具有以下功能的新系统取代老化的主要空气处理系统。冗余、易于维护、显着改善能量回收以及对排气系统进行修正以减少空气中的颗粒物。预计该新系统的能源效率将比现有装置的峰值效率（不再是峰值效率）高出至少 20%。实现）并将提供更好的温度和湿度控制。莫内尔的动物设施主管负责监督设施管理总监，后者负责管理动物设施和动物护理计划。在机构动物护理和使用委员会 (IACUC) 的指导下，她在这一职位上拥有近三十年的经验，多年来管理过莫内尔的多项重大翻修工程，并将担任项目经理。负责建筑物的电气、管道和机械方面，向设施管理总监报告。该应用程序的首席研究员是一位在莫内尔拥有 30 年经验的科学家，其资助的项目严重依赖于小鼠饲养。发表论文100篇一位经验丰富的美国实验动物医学学院委员会认证的实验动物主治兽医自 1982 年以来一直指导莫内尔的动物护理和使用计划，包括最初的设计和建造。动物设施、IACUC 职责和职能、动物护理操作、兽医护理、培训和合规性莫内尔为此应用签约的机械工程师具有项目管理专业知识，参与了该项目。他参与了该建筑的许多重大改造，并为该应用提供了详细的线路图，对莫内尔为这一重要改造项目组建的专家和经验丰富的团队进行了补充。本提案中描述的空气处理改造将带来必要且重要的改进。莫内尔的动物护理设施，从而确保其动物的健康和安全以及产品的质量莫内尔所依赖的化学感应研究通过更换动物设施中最陈旧的部分，我们将确保动物的环境条件符合 AAALAC 认证准则。