The administration of MMC and its faculty are strongly committed to achieving excellence in biomedical research as outlined in the Division of Sponsored Research's strategic plans for MMC's animal care program. A key element of the strategic plan is the responsible use of laboratory animals in research for the advances of biomedical investigations. The goals of the animal care program are to furnish humane care for research animals, provide efficient services for investigators, and comply with federal guidelines and the standards of accrediting agencies. To help the program reach these goals, this application proposes to improve the care of experimental animals by: 1) installing a facility-wide environmental control system; 2) providing specialized animal housing equipment, comprised of ventilated microisolator racks; and 3) completing various infrastructures repairs and improvements. The current conventional environment within the ACF cannot accommodate growth and expansion of research, and impacts on the ability of the ACF to comply with regulatory and accreditation standards. Current environmental monitoring is no longer adequate to meet the programmatic needs of the ACF and has been determined to be non-Y2K compliant. Manual recordings have limited the ability of the ACF to effectively engage in modern research. Thus, the improvements proposed in this application will benefit all 69 users of the ACF with active research projects that involve laboratory animals. These research protocols include PHS and non-PHS projects and are funded at more than $9 million. This application is a request for funds to meet the demands of the second phase of the strategic plan and is part of the long-range plans for upgrading the laboratory animal facility to meet the growing needs of MMC's biomedical research program, and to continue accreditation by the AAALAC International.