C06OD032071

Novel Macaque Breeding Runs at the New Iberia Research Center

The New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is aiming to expand its macaque breeding capacity by the construction of 2 multi-run housing buildings. These buildings will be complete with roofing, electricity, water, heating, and air circulation. The design of these buildings has been specifically tailored and extensively tested for macaque housing and breeding at another facility in Texas. This attests to their adequacy, ease of maintenance, and duration of construction.

Each building unit will comprise 20 indoor/outdoor runs, capable of accommodating up to 20 breeder animals each. This will result in a total capacity of approximately 800 breeders and their offspring. This expansion is critical to accommodate the rapidly increasing research programs at NIRC, as well as to support the NIAID VRC and SVEU HIV/AIDS focused programs.

NIRC supports numerous onsite and collaborative programs on lentiviral pathogenesis. These programs are supported by state-of-the-art imaging capabilities, including a whole-body to signal cell analysis approach. Additionally, NIRC focuses on therapeutic approaches aimed at curing HIV and has an extensive program to prevent mucosal viral acquisition through protective experimental vaccines, vaginal and colorectal microbicides. Furthermore, NIRC has played a key role in testing COVID-19 vaccines and antibody treatments.

The recent pandemic has severely depleted the supply of research macaques. To address this, NIRC has been expanding its colonies by adding 2200 nonhuman primates over the past 5 years. This expansion has been accommodated by gradually repurposing chimpanzee housing into breeding and research space. However, this conversion has reached its limits, and NIRC has reached its maximum capacity for monkey housing. This is partly due to the addition of two new colonies of Mauritian cynomolgus macaques and African green monkeys, as well as the award of a NIAID SIV vaccine evaluation unit award.

The rationale for adding this particular type of housing is based on its versatility, low maintenance, and cost savings on manpower. Located in southern Louisiana, NIRC has the ability to house rhesus macaques outdoors year-round for breeding purposes. However, the traditional corncrib cage design, while outstanding for sanitation and the behavioral development of macaques with limited hierarchical stress, has several drawbacks that the proposed new buildings will avoid. These include the lack of secondary containment, adequate protection for occasional subzero days, and a "rain tax" imposed by the municipal water ordinance.

Currently, corncrib housing supports breeding groups of up to 10 rhesus macaques in a typical harem configuration with one male per corncrib. The use of larger runs, as proposed, will enable the expansion of over 1500 macaque breeders on site, maximizing the utilization of proven breeder males. With over 8,500 nonhuman primates on site, NIRC is the largest primate facility in the US. While not directly supported by NIH, it has a rapidly expanding research program and readily available space for expansion. Therefore, we submit that NIRC is an ideal site for the expansion of macaque breeding in support of NIH research.

University Of Louisiana At Lafayette

TO RENOVATE EXISTING RESEARCH FACILITIES AND BUILD NEW RESEARCH FACILITIES TO MEET BASIC AND CLINICAL SPACE REQUIREMENTS, LABORATORY SAFETY, BIOHAZARD CONTAINMENT, AND ANIMAL CARE STANDARDS IN ORDER TO SUPPORT THE FACILITY DEMANDS OF NIH RESEARCH PROGRAMS.

93.310 - Trans-NIH Research Support

National Institutes of Health (NIH) [HHS]

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) [HHS - NIH]

Louisiana United States

State-Wide

Biomedical Research Facilities (C06 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (PAR-21-139)

Amendment Since initial award the End Date has been extended from 09/30/24 to 09/30/25.