Brown University
Located in the midst of the College Hill area of Providence, R.I., the new Brown University Life Sciences Building is a five-story, state-of-the-art research facility totaling approximately 170,000 sf. The building enhances the University's teaching and research capabilities, comprising up to 70 percent lab space, and housing several consolidated departments including molecular science, cell biology, biochemistry and neuroscience--as well as 104,000-square-feet of generic research space.

Regional Biocontainment Lab Impacts Existing and Future Operations
The $25-million Regional Biocontainment Lab (RBL) at the University of Tennessee in Memphis, Tenn., is a high-profile project that stems from initiatives at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The lab, slated to be operational at the end of 2008, is expected to bolster regional research in the areas of biodefense and infectious agents.

Reconciling Traditional Models of Research Administration with Community Expectations for Economic Development
With 2,700 faculty and revenues of approximately $2.3 billion, the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, is a moderately sized university that "hits above its weight" in research. Health sciences research accounts for two-thirds of the University's total research activity, expenditures, and personnel. Strong in genetics, neurosciences, engineering, bioengineering, pharmacology, oncology, and biological sciences research, and hosting one of the nation's top colleges of pharmacy, the University has for years enjoyed per-investigator and per-square-foot funding levels that are well above national averages. This year, Mario Capecchi, professor of human genetics and biology at the University of Utah's Eccles Institute of Human Genetics, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering work in "knockout mice" technology.

Changes Improve Efficiencies in Equipment, Operations, and Personnel
Johns Hopkins University's (JHU) animal resources function is one of the most automated of any institution, with cagewash being a critical, technology-intensive operating component. Within the last year the viviarium cagewash function at JHU's School of Medicine has been reclassified as a facility support function and assigned to the school's facility management group.

Operational-based Solutions Can Yield Lower Costs and Greater Flexibility
In order to achieve low operating costs and high long-term flexibility within animal research facilities, designers must make the right decisions about three key components: holding rooms, cage processing, and bedding handling systems.

Sudden Influx of Square Footage Enables Unique Planning Effort
When the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) elected to construct a 330,000-sf genetic medicine building with a 44,000-cage vivarium--a massive increase over the University's capacity of 28,000 cages, spread among 13 separate facilities--the school was faced with a unique opportunity. Since it would take years to occupy all of the space, the enormous boost in capacity would provide the abundant "swing space" needed to enable modernization of existing animal facilities and conversion of obsolete facilities to other uses.

Efficient Design Limits Animal Movement
Vivariums exist for a reason: Research animals must not be exposed to outside contaminants, and the outside world must be protected from allergens and infections the animals may carry. Researchers, however, like to work in their own labs, so they are tempted to move their animals around the building, exposing both their co-workers and the animals. One solution is to design a vivarium that includes the varied facilities researchers may need, eliminating their need to transport the animals.