Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

Six researchers in the Dept, Psychology at Queen's Univ. depend on a functioning animal care facility to carry out their NSERC-funded research. The current facility includes a cage washer that is 40 yr old and needs to be replaced. We are requesting a grant to assist in covering the cost of purchasing a new cage washer. The research programs of the NSERC-funded professors include: RJ Beninger who studies the role of brain neurotransmitters in the control of behavior in rats; H Dringenberg who studies neuronal plasticity in brain recording studies in rats; B Frost who uses single cell recording techniques in pigeons to study the visual system; J Menard who evaluates the neural circuitry of fear in rats; MC Olmstead who investigates how cognitive and motivational processes interact to influence behavior in rats; and N Troje, a NSERC Steacie Fellow whose research focuses on biological motion using pigeons. These research programs depend critically on the availability of a functioning cage washer to provide a hygienic housing environment for the animals. Similar equipment is available in two other facilities at Queen's but movement between facilities is discouraged to prevent the spread of pathogens. Moving the six researchers and their labs to another building where they would have direct access to a cage washer is not feasible because of space limitations and such a move would fracture the Dept. Psychology. The six NSERC-funded researchers currently supervise 18 undergraduate and 21 graduate students and one postdoc. Additional undergraduate students in Psychology take courses that use lab animals. All of these highly qualified personnel rely on a functioning cage washer to be able to complete their studies. The findings from the research carried out by the investigators who rely on the cage washer have wide ranging influence on many aspects of day-to-day life including understanding and treating brain disorders such as drug addiction and developing technologies such as more effective tail-light displays in vehicles to prevent collisions and understanding why teleconferencing systems are not more widely used. Thus, many aspects of our complex society depend on the integrity of our basic research facilities.