Animal Research

E4H Architecture presented a webinar on modular facilities for accelerating vaccine development on May 8, 2020. Now available as an on-demand recording, the exciting session is led by Jeff Schantz, Director of Health Sciences and Technology at E4H. Jeff reviews planning strategies for adapting multi-therapeutic cGMP/BSL-3 cleanroom modules for SARS-CoV-2 response and cell therapy development. Presentation topics include regulatory guidelines, HVAC requirements, design and flow considerations, and decontamination strategies.

Tecniplast is offering a webinar on the use of the DVC® System to optimize animal modelling in mouse vivaria. “Improving Animal Modelling with 24/7 Home Cage Monitoring in Bio-exclusion/Biocontainment Mouse Housing Systems” will detail how the DVC® technology applied to the ISO caging system can deliver improved data replicability, animal welfare, and research results. 

Price Industries is significantly increasing production of its air filtration systems in response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Instantly creating a negative-pressure isolation room, the company's fan filter unit can draw airborne virus out through a biosafety filter for expulsion through the building's exhaust vent or directly to the outside. The units can dramatically reduce airborne virus in healthcare environments such as nursing stations and temporary hospitals, and can even be used in hotel rooms that have been repurposed as care facilities.

The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) has assembled a task force to address the role of the built environment in reducing the impact of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory infections. Aiming to define the critical role that buildings, organizations, and communities play in infectious disease management, the work will take a broad approach in considering both new and recurring agents that can affect large populations.

The Australian government has awarded AUD$220 million in federal funding to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) for upgrades to its biocontainment research facilities in Geelong. Constructed 35 years ago, the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (formerly the Australian Animal Health Laboratory) is a secure campus with four laboratory structures offering BSL-4 research space.

Federal financial measures have been approved in the past few weeks to shore up the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, with direct monetary assistance and business loans totaling $5.5 trillion, and more support and flexibility for research universities and government contractors. The federal stimulus package—the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act—is intended to pump $2.2 trillion dollars into the economy, primarily in the healthcare and research sectors, and to provide emergency relief to institutions, businesses, and workers whose livelihoods have been impacted by the pandemic. The specifics of how it will be implemented are still evolving, and it is likely that additional stimulus bills will be considered in the coming months, including investments in infrastructure for the nation’s research enterprise.

VACUUBRAND is offering continuing education courses approved by the American Institute of Architects and Green Business Certification Inc. Providing engineers and designers with the skills to create sustainable, high-performance laboratories, each course is available as a general webinar, a private webinar, or as an on-demand learning experience. AIA members will receive one LU/HSW (Health-Safety-Welfare learning unit) for each one-hour course.

Georgia State University is planning to construct an $84 million research building in Atlanta for the study of global infectious diseases. Designed by HOK, the 84,100-sf biocontainment facility will provide BSL-3 and BSL-4 labs, a vivarium, collaborative open research areas, offices, and support space. A design-bid-build contractor is being sought for the project, which has an estimated construction cost of $66 million. The structure represents the third phase of development at the university's Science Park and is slated for completion in 2022.

Roughly a year and a half into a major Lean initiative, the vivarium at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has reduced its operating budget by at least 25 percent, cut overtime by more than 60 percent, and closed a 15,000-sf satellite, moving all employees into the original facility. Still a work in progress, the streamlining effort is applying a blend of Lean concepts and holistic, out-of-the-box thinking, with careful attention to both the hard and soft side of operations. Among the efficiencies instituted are a revamped cagewash schedule, staff trained in basic colony management, and the redesign of animal holding rooms so that PIs and husbandry personnel can comfortably work in the same space simultaneously.

Research into the causes of and potential treatments for neurodegenerative diseases has always been inherently multidisciplinary, combining basic sciences with numerous medical specialties. At the same time, neuroscience research requires a variety of targeted specialized spaces. Facilities that support that research, therefore, must be designed to accommodate both the interdisciplinary and the specialized. “As we approach these projects, we need to have a completely open mindset and expect the unexpected,” says Alex Munoz, SmithGroup princpal and senior lab planner. “The facilities must be designed with flexible standards that are both highly specialized for current research and capable of being relevant in the future.”

The growing complexity of research has heightened vivarium design requirements, making it imperative that facility operators and users work closely with the architect and engineers in the early planning stages of construction and renovation projects. Resolving these 10 recurring issues up front can help avoid problems down the road.

Oklahoma State University is planning to break ground in spring of 2021 on a $100 million facility for the College of Agriculture in Stillwater. Designed to promote hands-on, experiential learning, the building will offer flexible teaching and research labs, dynamic classrooms, collaboration spaces, and faculty offices. Occupancy is expected in fall of 2023. OSU is also building the $7.1 million Animal Nutrition and Physiology Center.

An “onion skin” layout of lab adjacencies and biocontainment strategies derived from a thorough risk assessment process are highlights of the new construction for the South Dakota Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (ADRDL) in Brookings, S.D. The new 84,000-gsf (41,000-nsf) building, an addition to the original facility, will provide space to accommodate the burgeoning demand for molecular diagnostics while bringing activities on both sides of the ADRDL mission—research and diagnostics—under one roof.

The Ohio State University is planning to construct two collocated research facilities in its West Campus innovation district in Columbus. Designed by Pelli Clarke & Partners and Moody Nolan, the 305,000-sf Interdisciplinary Research Facility will provide a vivarium, support spaces, and wet, computational, and core labs for programs in engineering and medical research.

Stanford University opened a $256 million biomedical research complex in November of 2019 in Stanford, Calif. Designed by Ennead Architects, the four-story, 235,000-sf project includes the Stanford ChEM-H (Chemistry, Engineering & Medicine for Human Health) Building and the Stanford Neurosciences Building, which houses the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.