

	Center on Human Development and Disability

Infant Primate Research Laboratory

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Facilities Details

Lower Floor Facilities

(1) A kitchen for preparation of infant formula is equipped with a double compartment sink, cabinets and shelves for supplies, a refrigerator/freezer, and a high temperature dishwasher capable of sanitizing feeding equipment to meet mandated safety requirements. The kitchen also serves as the monitoring station for observing pregnant females housed in the maternity room.

(2) The newborn nursery is equipped with a double compartment sink, cabinets and shelves for supplies, incubators, and small animal cages with heating pads and hanging surrogates to house animals from birth to 21 days of age. Incubators are available for newborn or medically fragile infants to provide temperature support. Several of our incubators were replaced with updated models during the past grant cycle. Temperature monitors for evaluating rectal temperature, stethoscopes for monitoring heart rate and stopwatches for measuring respiration are also available. The nursery can accommodate up to 20 animals, depending on the number of infants in incubators.

(3) A single cage housing room is equipped with animal cages to accommodate animals from 21 days of age to 1 year of age. The room also houses our two mirror-image playrooms to provide daily socialization (and social testing) of animals. Medical carts as well as clean diaper carts are stationed in the room. The housing room can accommodate up to 80 animals, depending on the age distribution.

(4) A group-housing room is available for social housing of animals once they are weaned from infant formula and are no longer tested every day. The room can accommodate up to 40 animals housed in groups of up to 5 animals each, depending on their physical size.

(5) A treatment room is equipped with a sink, cabinets and shelves for supplies, two medical carts with supplies for evaluating the health of animals, a locked cabinet for drugs, and a table for recording clinical data.

(6) A cage washer that can accommodate up to six cages at once is located in a room adjacent to the animal housing.

(7) Five testing rooms are available with equipment and supplies for evaluating physical, sensory, motor, and cognitive development. Equipment and supplies are available for testing newborn activity and health, neonatal reflexes and responses, visual acuity, visual recognition memory, object retrieval, object permanence, learning, and memory (see Justification section for descriptions of assessment procedures).

(8) Four offices and a storage room are located adjacent to the laboratory. Office space is available for the nursery, research technicians, and the clinical staff. The storage room provides space for supplies

Upper Floor Facilities

(1) A kitchen for preparation of infant formula is equipped with a double compartment sink, cabinets and shelves for supplies, a refrigerator/freezer and a high temperature dishwasher capable of sanitizing feeding equipment to meet mandated safety requirements.

(2) A single cage housing room is equipped with incubators and small animal cages with heating pads and hanging surrogates. Temperature monitors for measuring rectal temperature, stethoscopes for monitoring heart rate, and stopwatches for monitoring respiration are also available to evaluate these functions for clinical as well as experimental reasons. Additional larger animal cages are available to accommodate animals up to 9 months of age. Medical carts are stationed in the room for emergency purposes. The housing room can accommodate up to 10 animals, depending on the age distribution.

(3) A testing room is available with equipment and supplies for evaluating the physical growth and sensory, motor, social, and cognitive development of virus-infected and control infant macaques. Duplicate testing equipment and supplies from the -1 floor facility are available.

Three rooms provide housing for up to 60 adult females and 5-8 males for our timed-mating program. The timed-mating program was developed during the past grant cycle to meet the growing demand for healthy, gestation-known infants for research projects. The rooms are equipped with a sink, medical equipment for emergencies, and specialized cages for breeding. The timed-mating program has been critical for the success of numerous projects currently in the lab.

A maternity room is equipped with specialized housing (glass-front cages) and equipment (cameras, pan-and-tilt, infrared lighting) for around the clock WebPage monitoring of pregnant females in order to detect potential problems during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Cameras are connected to an infrared closed-circuit monitoring system that was developed during the past grant cycle. The system utilizes a computer, interface equipment, digital cameras, and monitors to provide a secure Website for monitoring both the behaviors of pregnant females as well as physiological signals from dams and fetuses equipped with in-dwelling catheters. The system allows investigators to view their animals from their campus offices, labs, or homes. Investigators and staff can discuss appropriate medical interventions to maintain pregnancies if problems occur or they can assess potential problems during labor and delivery. The room is also equipped with a medical cart with supplies for prepartum and newborn exams and for emergency purposes. Up to 12 females can be housed and monitored in the maternity room. These facilities are critical for observing females with pregnancy complications from the timed-mating breeding colony as well as for projects that require separation of the newborn at birth, such as the new project aimed at evaluating the developmental effects of various infant and childhood vaccines.

Two testing rooms and a control room are available for continued testing of animals after one year of age. These facilities have been critical for previous research that required an evaluation of animals in various stages of their life-cycle and will be instrumental for the new vaccine project. Finally, a cage washing room, storage and laundry room, and 3 offices for IPRL staff are located on the 1st floor. The storage room provides space for supplies, and the laundry is equipped with a washer and dryer for cleaning diapers.

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University of Washington • Center on Human Development and Disability Box 357920 • Seattle WA 98195-7920 USA • 206-543-7701 • chdd@u.washington.edu