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Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Research Animal Management Branch

NICHD Animal Holding Space

The NIH has facilities to accommodate virtually any animal species required in biomedical research.

Most of the rodent facilities at the NIH have restrictions on which animal pathogens are acceptable in animals to be imported and maintained. The animal facilities in Buildings 6B, 49, and 10A have been designated "disease free." Although animals that are removed from these three facilities may not be returned; animals may be removed for use in approved locations.

Rabbits can be housed in Building 14G. Remember that rabbits take a lot of space and are very expensive to maintain. Rabbits needed for routine polyclonal antibody production are generally not maintained on the NIH campus. This research requirement is met through NICHD contracts with Covance Laboratories or other vendors.

Animal procedure rooms are available in most animal facilities. Building 6B has four general purpose procedure rooms and a transgenics laboratory. Building 10A has one procedure room dedicated for NICHD use; general purpose shared procedure rooms are also available. The Building 10/6C127 facility has one procedure room. Building 49 has a suite of NICHD procedure rooms as well as general purpose procedure rooms.

Light-tight cubicles, equipped with red lighting to facilitate studies requiring modified light/dark cycles, are available in Buildings 6B and 49.

All animal holding costs are paid from the Research Animal Management Branch (RAMB) budget (approximately $2 million/year). Animals are purchased through the Laboratory and Branch budgets. Charges for animal holding space in the Building 6B Shared Animal Facility, the Building 10A Central Animal Facility, the Building 49 Shared Animal Facility, and the NIHAC Shared Animal Facility are assessed through Intraagency Agreements, regardless of the NICHD animal population density. Therefore, attempts will be made to fill the NICHD space allotments in these facilities before making use of facilities where a per diem is charged (e.g., Buildings 14 and 103).

Animal holding space currently in use by the NICHD is summarized below:
 

Animal Facility Species NICHD Holding Space Lead Institute
Building 6B Mice 

Rats

Xenopus

Zebrafish

 3,731 cages 

0 cages

variable

4,182 tanks

 NICHD
Building 10A Mice 

Rats

 994 cages 

0 cages

 VRP, ORS
Building 10/6C127 Mice 

Rats

Sea urchins

 406 cages 

145 cages

5 tanks

 NICHD
Building 49  Mice 

Rats

Guinea pigs

Xenopus
 

 2,212 cages 

145 cages

0 cages

18 tanks
 

 NEI
Building 14G Rabbits Variable VRP, ORS
Building 14D Nonhuman primates Variable VRP, ORS
Building 14F Mice 968 cages VRP, ORS
NIHAC Nonhuman primates: 
    Rhesus macaque

    Squirrel monkey

    Cebus monkey

    Common marmoset

 Approximately 500 

Buildings 110A, 112,

    T-18, 132, 

    and seasonal habitats.

 NICHD
Building 103  Nonhuman primates Variable VRP, ORS
Building 100 Ungulates: 
    Sheep

    Goat

    Horse

    Burro

 Variable (0-10) VRP, ORS
Building 6B/Room 4B406  Zebrafish 374 tanks NICHD
Building 14G/Room 114 Zebrafish 6,553 tanks NICHD
Building 32T-II Xenopus 10 tanks NICHD