Housing

The DLAR provides a central animal housing facility at the Health Science Center as well as satellite housing facilities at the Robert F. McDermott Clinical Science Building and Children's Cancer Research Institute on the UTHSCSA North Campus, and the Institute for Biotechnology, the STCBM, and the Barshop Center on the Texas Research Park campus. These facilities are designed specifically for housing animals and have twenty-four hour, seven day a week, heating, cooling, and ventilation which is monitored continuously.

Animal housing rooms are not usually assigned to individual investigators, but instead are allocated by species, vendor, and antibody status of the animals. Investigators sharing an animal housing room must exercise concern for the welfare of other investigators' animals.

Federal laws and PHS policies address cage size, sanitation practices, methods of management and environmental control of animal housing facilities. Generally, Federal law deals with humane considerations while the PHS policies are directed toward the reduction of variables which confound research.

• The University housing plan provides for the appropriate separation of species as required for proper disease control.
• Photo-period is monitored centrally and can be adjusted. Entry to the facilities is by card access only.
• Housing and care of animals are closely supervised in all facilities.
• Trained animal attendants follow written Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to ensure adequate daily care.
• Animal housing rooms are locked for the security of the animals and the research project.
• Facilities are available for containment of CDC BSL II and BSL III biohazards. Space in these areas is assigned by the Director on an "as available" basis after review and approval by the Biosafety Committee.
• University policy requires that all animals be housed in either the Central Campus facility or one of the five satellite facilities.

Rodent (guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, mice and rats) housing is designed to minimize disease transmission. The rodent housing area is subdivided into zones designated as "disease free," "transient," or "diseased" housing areas.

Rodents housed in a "disease free" room at the Central Campus facility are segregated by species, vendor or origin. A "disease free" room has a dedicated animal attendant who works with only "disease free" rodents. Rodents housed in a "disease free" area may not be removed from the "disease free" area and subsequently returned to that area. Procedure rooms are available within the "disease free" area to which rodents housed in the "disease free" area may be taken for injections, blood sampling, surgery, etc., and subsequently be returned to the "disease free" housing room. Rodents may be taken to an investigators laboratory at the end of a study if they are to be sacrificed. Special arrangements can be made which would allow rodents to be housed in a "disease free" room for a period of time, subsequently taken to the investigators laboratory and then returned to a "transient" housing room. This requires prior arrangement with DLAR.

Rodents housed in the "transient" area are segregated by species and whenever possible by vendor or origin. These rodents also meet the prescribed health standards upon arrival at the Health Science Center. It is permissible to transport these rodents from their "transient" housing room to the investigators laboratory and then return them to their "transient" housing room if diseased rodents are not manipulated in that laboratory. Contact with rodents from the "diseased" rodent area must be avoided.

Rodents housed in a "diseased" rodent housing room have been diagnosed as having at least one contagious disease conditions. These rodents are segregated by species and whenever possible by the disease condition. It is permissible to transport rodents from a "diseased" rodent housing room to the investigators laboratory and return them to the "diseased" rodent housing room. Contact with disease free or "transient" rodents must be avoided.

It is extremely important that there be no transfer of rodents, equipment, supplies, clothing, or personnel from a "diseased" rodent housing room to a "transient" or "disease free" rodent housing room. Likewise, traffic from a "transient" rodent housing room to a "disease free" rodent housing room is forbidden. This rodent housing system has been highly effective in reducing the incidence of spontaneous rodent diseases in DLAR. The rodent disease control program was expensive to implement and is expensive to maintain. It is an important institutional commitment to providing high quality, disease free research animals and should not be jeopardized by careless actions. The cost of this program is borne by the institution.

A second special housing area is available for nude and SCID mice. This area has specialized equipment and husbandry programs designed to protect immunodeficient animals.