# Alteration and Renovation

> **NIH NIH P20** · UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE · 2024 · $224,569

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract:
Western Kentucky University (WKU) is a regional comprehensive institution located in
southcentral Kentucky that is a member of the Kentucky INBRE program. Since the inception of
WKU in joining KY INBRE in 2002, a number of faculty members have been successful in
receiving funding from NIH and in training undergraduate students to perform biomedical
research. The objective of the Alteration and Renovation project outlined herein is to enhance
and maintain the research capacity of WKU to enable high-quality research in the fields of
microbiology, genetics, physiology, and neurobiology. More specifically, this proposal requests
to replace and upgrade essential "workhorse" research equipment (an autoclave, cage/bottle
washer) located on the third floor of the Engineering and Biological Sciences (EBS) building that
are in disrepair and obsolete (spare parts are no longer made to service these units). The old
autoclave and cage/bottle washer are located in the WKU Biotechnology Center (2,172 sq. ft)
and the WKU Vivarium (1,726 sq. ft), respectively, on the third floor of EBS. The current
autoclave in the WKU Biotechnology Center is currently nonfunctional which has created
unnecessary delays and barriers to conducting research. The current cage/bottle washer is still
operational but will likely fail in the next several years. These needed upgrades will directly
affect one WKU faculty member with a current NIH R15 grant who relies heavily upon a working
cage/bottle washer to maintain a mouse colony, five other WKU faculty members that are
currently or previously funded by KY INBRE and/or NIH, and 20-25 undergraduate students that
work with these faculty members to carry out biomedically relevant research. In addition, the
Ogden College of Science and Engineering at WKU is currently developing a new Neuroscience
major that will attract new students interested in biomedical research. In developing the
curriculum for this new major, there is a need for potentially new faculty hires in the fields of
Behavioral Neuroscience and Systems Neuroscience. If these new hires plan to utilize rodent
models, then it is necessary that a fully functioning cage/bottle washer be available for use.
These needed upgrades to basic (yet essential) research equipment will enable current and
future faculty, staff, and students to continue to carry out high-quality biological research with
equipment that is reliable and working properly.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10873591
- **Project number:** 2P20GM103436-24
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE
- **Principal Investigator:** Noah Todd Ashley
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $224,569
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2001-09-30 → 2029-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10873591

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10873591, Alteration and Renovation (2P20GM103436-24). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-14 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10873591. Licensed CC0.

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