About Us

The Animal Facility is a shared resource that facilitates research through humane, ethical, and efficient management of animal populations and is overseen by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). The central animal facility encompasses 13,580 sq. ft. and provides a highly productive environment to conduct research studies in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurologic diseases. An attending veterinarian specializing in animal use in research trains the facility lab and animal technicians, as well as research staff. The attending veterinarian is directly responsible for the program of veterinary care and the humane use of animals in research. A full-time staff certified veterinary technician assists in health monitoring, treatment, and research support. A full program of occupational health and safety, to include consideration of rodent allergies, is integral to the program of animal care and use. The vivarium operates as a modified barrier facility and houses core

genetically engineered mouse breeding colonies that supply experimental mouse models for studies. These colonies are used for studies of neuromolecular, physiology, behavior, and genetic mechanisms of spectrum disorders related to dementia, anxiety, autism, depression, seizures, and addiction, among others, in addition to the development of treatment for such disorders. Rodent surgery is performed in an equipped surgical suite comprised of a surgical room, animal prep room, scrub room, instrument cabinets, autoclaves, gas-anesthesia, scavenging equipment and stereotaxic apparatuses.

The attending veterinarian either participates in or supervises surgeries and trains investigators and lab staff in specific techniques, including anesthesia and post-surgical analgesia and monitoring.

The Computational Neuroimaging Lab, part of NKI’s Center for Biomedical Imaging and Neuromodulation (C-BIN), strives to advance novel computational analysis and experimental techniques for determining how brain function and structure are impacted by mental illness and development. A current project includes the development of a 9.4T MRI scanner. Together with the Design, Acquisition and Neuromodulation Laboratories (DANL), the Computational Neuroimaging Laboratories (CNL) is leading the efforts for the development and implementation of a 9.4 tesla magnetic resonance imaging system at NKI; it will be one of the most powerful imaging systems in the world for neuroscientists to study the human brain. This neuroimager will safely and noninvasively observe human brain anatomy, metabolism and function at the highest spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions achievable. This instrument will bring together neuroscience

researchers from throughout the Greater New York City and Tri-State area. Centrally located in one of world’s top neuroscience communities, this 9.4T neuroimager will foster significant new discovery in understanding the human brain and behavior.

A novel second-generation console to optimize the quality of data obtained from this ultra-high field strength magnet is also being developed. This revolutionary engineering project is conducted as a collaboration between NKI, Columbia, NYU and Cornell engineering schools, and New York State industries including GE Global Research and Communications Power Corp. This console will be interfaced to an existing 9.4T head-only magnet to complete the neuro-imaging system. It will be housed in a new ultra-high-field imaging laboratory being built separately for this project.