Animal Research

The University of Prince Edward Island’s Atlantic Veterinary College opened its $20 million Research Complex in Charlottetown in July of 2008. The 5,300-sm building will house the Centre for Bioactive Valuation, the Centre for Comparative Biomedical Research, and the Lobster Science Centre. Providing 1,100 sm of additional research laboratories and a $3 million CL3 (containment level 3) facility, the project is part of $45 million in infrastructure improvements planned and under way at the veterinary college.

Tufts University is building the $25.9 million Regional Biocontainment Laboratory in North Grafton, Mass. Part of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, the facility is funded in part by $19.35 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The 38,000-gsf facility is sited on 5.4 acres in the Grafton Science Park and will include 23,290-sf of mechanical and basement space.

McLaughlin Research Institute broke ground on a $4.3 million expansion and renovation of its animal research facilities in Great Falls, Mont., in June of 2008. The project, comprised of a 6,000-sf, two-story addition and 13,000-sf of renovated space, will double mouse vivarium space and create additional laboratories.

North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine is building the $72 million Randall B. Terry Jr. Companion Animal Medical Center in Raleigh. Housing small animal services including cardiology, internal medicine, neurology, emergency, critical care, surgery, and oncology, the 115,000-sf center will accommodate up to 25,000 cases a year.

The University of Arkansas opened the $2.4 million Leland Tollett Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Fayetteville on June 12, 2008. Housing disease testing for poultry, cows, horses, and other animals, the facility is operated jointly by the University’s Division of Agriculture and The Poultry Federation. The 7,365-sf diagnostic laboratory features a drive-through drop off window for poultry samples and a hydraulic lift for large animal transfer.

Atlantic Veterinary College of the University of Prince Edward Island is partnering with the province of New Brunswick to construct a $23.6 million aquatic animal health science laboratory in St. George, NB, Canada. Meeting national standards for fish health testing, the facility will support aquaculture research for the regions’ fishery industries. Housing necropsy, bacteriology, virology, and sample processing facilities, the 5,700-sf laboratory will be built by Castle Rock Construction Services of Saint John.

North Dakota State University broke ground on two agricultural research facilities in Fargo, N.D., on May 30, 2008. The $12 million Greenhouse Facility will house research in plant breeding, pathology, and nutrition to create higher yield crop varieties. The Beef Cattle Research Center will support research in animal nutrition and physiology, feed efficiencies, genetics, and food safety. The first phase of construction for the Beef Cattle Research Center will cost $1.6 million. Completion is expected in October of 2008. 

Florida A&M University (FAMU) broke ground on its $1.2 million Animal Healthcare Facility in Quincy in May of 2008. Housing research facilities, a clinical lab, veterinary training facilities, and a technology center, the building will open in April of 2009.

Cornell University broke ground on the $80 million New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center in Ithaca in May of 2008. Slated for completion in late summer of 2010, the 126,000-gsf facility will house over 200 researchers, consolidating operations currently dispersed in 12 locations. The three-story building will house BSL-2 and BSL-3 labs, diagnostic labs, wet labs, and a state-of-the-art necropsy facility able to accommodate large animals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison broke ground on the $150 million Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery in Madison on May 2, 2008. The 300,000-sf interdisciplinary biomedical research building will be comprised of four stories above ground and one below, and will house research offices, an atrium, and flexible dry, wet, and combination laboratories. The collaborative public-private research project will accommodate biotechnology, health science, nanotechnology, engineering, and stem cell research.

The University of Central Florida (UCF) is constructing the Burnett Biomedical Sciences building in Orlando. Slated for completion by fall of 2009, the five-story facility will will house the merged UCF College of Medicine and the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences. The project team includes Ellenzweig Associates of Cambridge as design architect and HuntonBrady Architects of Orlando as architect of record.

Covance celebrated the completion of its 288,000-sf animal testing laboratory in Chandler, Ariz., on May 1, 2008. The $100 million facility broke ground in June of 2007 and includes animal housing, five laboratories, a 100-seat auditorium, an animal care area, and a cafeteria. Operations will begin in the three-story building in early 2009.

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.