Facilities

The Center for Comparative Medicine (CCM) at UC Davis is a fully equipped research building specializing in research on pathogenesis of infectious disease common to humans and animals. This Center has shared instrumentation, tissue culture suites, BSL2 and BSL3 containment labs, darkrooms, glassware washroom, autoclaves, histopathology, molecular biology, optical imaging, etc. All CCM equipment and laboratory space is available for general use by the CCM Principal Investigators and their research staffs, as well as for the RCE Core.

Biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory containment facilities

The BSL-3 suite at the CCM is a shared facility, approximately 600 ASF, that includes an anteroom and 2 laboratories separated by an internal door, with one pass-through BSL-3 decontamination sterilizer, 100% single-pass air, negative to the corridors. This BSL-3 suite was first certified by UC Davis Environmental Health and Safety in 2003 and was also inspected by CDC (in 2005 and 2006) for Select Agent work and AAALAC (in 2005). The BSL-3 suite was updated in summer 2007 to add HEPA filters on the exhaust system, to install redundant exhaust fans, to improve remote HVAC monitoring, and to install a hard ceiling and roof access to the interstitial space. This upgrade was partially funded by the RCE with additional funding provided by the UC Davis administration.

BSL-3 for animals (ABSL-3)

The School of Medicine maintains a ABSL-3 suite for small animals (rodents). For nonhuman primates, a large ABSL-3 suite at the California National Primate Research Center was completed December 2008; this space consists of 4 rooms housing up to 64 macaques with full necropsy capabilities.