Industry News

The University of Tennessee's College of Veterinary Medicine opened the expanded John and Ann Tickle Small Animal Hospital in Knoxville in April of 2008. Construction began in February of 2007 on the $10 million, 32,000-sf addition. The project includes clinical space, small animal infectious disease isolators, a $1.5 million linear accelerator for radiation oncology, medical oncology, and avian and zoological medicine. A canine rehabilitation area includes a heated therapy pool and two new underwater treadmills.

Alltech Inc., a biotechnology company that produces health supplements for the animal feed industry, opened the 20,000-sf Center for Animal Nutrigenomics and Applied Animal Nutrition in Nicholasville, Ky., in April of 2008. The facility will accommodate research into the effect of nutrition on gene expression and will include faculty and staff from the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture. The project represents an expansion of Alltech’s existing research facility.

Esco now offers a complete line of animal research products with the launch of the VIVA Bedding Disposal Workstation. Esco’s range of VIVA animal research products are designed for lab animal research applications involving rodents. Cage cleaning and bedding disposal procedures are now simpler, safer and more productive with the VIVA Bedding Disposal Workstation. Specifically designed for the animal research laboratory, the mobile workstation protects personnel and the lab environment from exposure to allergens and unpleasant odors.

The $60 million HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology will officially open in the Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Ala. in April of 2008. Housing 12 for-profit companies and 900 employees, the facility will support Alabama’s high tech, biotech, and clinical research industries to address a variety of diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative diseases. Designed by Cooper Carry, the 270,000-sf project is the cornerstone of the 150-acre CRP Biotech Campus.

The Jackson Laboratory (JAX® Mice & Services) is engaged in an expansion of its mouse production facility in West Sacramento, Calif. The project will increase the size of the building from 40,000-sf to 200,000-sf. The Jackson Laboratory transports approximately 50,000 mice per week from its Bar Harbor, Maine headquarters and between 5,000 and 8,000 mice per week from West Sacramento.