National Cheng Kung University has expanded its Laboratory Animal Center (LAC) at the College of Medicine with the addition of four small-animal research labs. The completed 27,232-sf LAC was inaugurated in February of 2013. National Cheng Kung University is located in Tainan, Taiwan.
Midwest Veterinary Services will construct the $10 million Veterinary and Biomedical Research Center (VBRC) in the Valley Business Park in Blue Township. Sited near Manhattan, Kansas, where the planned National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility is to be built, the 20,000-sf project will support the acceleration of pharmaceutical products through FDA and USDA regulatory approval processes. The facility represents an expansion of Midwest Veterinary Services' existing research operations.
Texas A&M University is planning to build the $285.6 million Pandemic Influenza Facility in the Bryan-College Station BioCorridor. The 151,600-sf project will accommodate the development of countermeasures for pandemic and biological threats and is supported by $176 million in federal funding. The facility will house cleanrooms for vaccine manufacturing, decontamination rooms, quality control labs, and a central utility plant. Construction will begin in June of 2013 with completion expected in December of 2014.
This book is a collection of management experiences, insights, and lessons learned on building and operating high-containment facilities from facility planners, project directors, owners, end users, science program managers, and facility operators who have worked in the high-containment arena for the ten-year period 2002-2012.
The Translational and Biomedical Research Center for the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and the Children's Research Institute (CRI) provide a technically sophisticated facility that supports a broad range of research projects and protocols. The contemporary design enables MCW to expand its research environment, recruit researchers, and secure additional grant money. In addition, the lab building elevates CRI's national leadership profile in pediatric healthcare as it recruits top talent and conducts treatment and diagnostic research.
Missouri State University is building a $3.2 million vivarium facility in Springfield. The 5,000-gsf project is being constructed as an addition connecting to the existing Temple Hall. The facility will provide animal housing space, support, an administrative office, and a shower for animal care staff. The vivarium will accommodate research on mammalian species while providing a new aquatics lab for the study of fish and mussels.
Recent high-profile natural disasters and human-based incidents are driving vivarium facility owners to reevaluate their disaster and contingency plans. Traditional approaches to risk assessment and research preservation are often over-simplified, understaffed, and insufficiently funded. A new shift in thinking focuses on preparing for the net results of losing utilities, an entire building, or access to a section of campus rather than the initial causes.
Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) has renovated 4,000 sf of research space to consolidate its aquaculture facilities in the Eugene Braunwald Research Center, where the environmental temperature, humidity, and lighting are regulated to sustain a successful zebrafish colony. Fixed equipment includes 96 racks capable of sustaining up to 6,600 tanks; two dedicated reverse osmosis water supply systems; and new pump and filtration systems on multiple independent circuits, with separate large-scale breeding chambers and an isolated quarantine area.
The University of Tennessee completed a $20.9 million facility for the College of Veterinary Medicine in Knoxville in December of 2012. The renovated and expanded Equine and Farm Animal Hospital features surgical suites, a large animal MRI, and an underwater treadmill for equine therapy. The facility also provides isolation stalls with individual air systems and separate exterior doors to prevent exposure. The project comprises 65,000 sf of new construction and 18,700 sf of renovated space. Occupancy will occur in phases in early 2013.
Tradeline asked 120 individuals representing 98 research organizations to prioritize their areas of focus for 2013 and to make open-ended comments regarding those priorities. The priorities identified in this survey will be the focus of Tradeline's upcoming conference: The 2013 International Conference on Biocontainment Facilities on March 18-19, 2013, in San Diego.
The respondents’ overall priorities are:
1. Pressure and airflow control
2. Maintenance/operations requirements and processes
3. People, teams, and competency
Despite years of planning, in-depth professional experience, and multiple layers of oversight, things often do not work as planned at biocontainment laboratories. Even when they meet all safety and security requirements, facilities may run into unexpected life cycle costs which only become evident after a year or two of occupancy and operation, says Tim Mandrell, DVM, director of lab animal care for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHTC) Regional Biocontainment Laboratory. Knowing what problems to look and prepare for can help minimize costly facility downtime.
When the Institute for Animal Health in Pirbright, U.K., launched a significant upgrade of aging infrastructure to improve health- and safety-related systems at its high-level containment facilities, project leaders undertook a benchmarking process to determine how much the upgrades would cost to operate and how Pirbright's organizational structure compared with similar facilities in preparing to meet long-range goals.
Researchers at the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in the United Kingdom have developed a way to safely anesthetize and transfer animals from BSL-3 and BSL-4 containment to a mobile imaging facility for CT and MRI scans without breaking the containment barrier. The process allows them to obtain the high-resolution, three-dimensional images necessary for their research without building a costly suite onsite.
The need to minimize risk governs almost every aspect of building operation at biocontainment facilities, presenting special management and operational challenges. With safety and security such paramount priorities, the rigorous environment is further complicated by sophisticated infrastructure, multiple user groups, and a mix of personnel with varied competencies and skill levels.
The University of Leicester opened a £16 million animal research facility in September of 2012 in the United Kingdom. The three-story, 48,000-sf Central Research Facility provides biomedical research laboratories, vivarium space for mice and rats, and advanced imaging suites. Construction began on the project in summer of 2010.
