Share thisThe new 26,000 cage facility focused on achieving utility savings and recycling goals.
The Lorry I. Lokey Stem Cell Research Building (Lokey) opened on September 20, 2010 to house the Stanford Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medical Institute, the Stanford Cancer Center, and the Stanford Institute for Neuro-Innovation and Translational Neurosciences. The new building houses state-of-the-art research laboratories and specialized core laboratory facilities including animal housing, molecular imaging, a human embryonic teaching laboratory, and a rapid autopsy tissue bank. Lokey is the hub of all efforts associated with campus-wide stem cell activity providing a critical mass of faculty from various backgrounds to join forces in a single location, and through their combined talents promote innovation, new diagnostic tools, and novel therapies.
The design architect was ZGF architects of Portland, Oregon and the laboratory planner was Jacobs Consultancy, California. The project size was significant; Table 1 shows space allocations.
The core facilities include a 26,000 cage rodent barrier facility designed to maintain animals of a very high health status, with specific pathogen free colonies required to support such an ambitious research program. The vivarium has a full sound controlled animal behavior testing suite, a specialized area for transgenic animal work, and imaging suites.
This article looks at some of the unique design features of this laboratory animal facility, including the choice of a recyclable caging solution. Key decision factors including economics, operations, and environmental considerations that influenced the final design will also be discussed.
Design Features
The Lokey building has capacity for a 26,000 cage census. To date, it is the largest facility to exclusively use recyclable caging and was built without cage washing infrastructure. The initial design of the vivarium was planned for conventional cages/racks as well as standard cage and rack washing facilities. However, subsequent design discussions between Stanford, the design team, and Innovive, Inc. resulted in a fully committed approach to utilizing recyclable cages.
Switching to recyclable cages resulted in significant reductions in water and energy usage. Major savings in capital equipment costs were achieved by eliminating tunnel washers, rack washers, bulk autoclaves, reverse-osmosis system, and bottle filling equipment. The redesigned cage/rack wash space includes space for staging soiled caging and a spray pit for routine sanitizing of racks and equipment. A passthrough Lynx decontamination chamber utilizes chlorine dioxide for gaseous decontamination of equipment when necessary.