Thousands of Lab Mice Lost In Sandy Flooding 88
An anonymous reader writes "While New York University's Langone Medical Center in lower Manhattan was the site of heroism as 260 patients were evacuated from flooded floors and a nearly complete loss of power, similar floods at NYU's nearby Smilow Research Building killed thousands of laboratory mice, including genetically altered specimens in-bred over many generations as research subjects for melanoma and other diseases. Other laboratory animals, cells, and living tissue used in medical research were also lost; because of the gestation period involved, some projects were likely set back a number of years. Past experience with storms such as Allison in Houston and Katrina in New Orleans has shown that keeping laboratory animals in basements is not good practice, but research institutions keep doing it anyway."
The Basement (Score:5, Interesting)
Animal research at my university was done in a nondescript building absent from the maps, with a front only about twenty feet wide (other buildings were wrapped around it). You needed a key-card to open the front door, and the building had a huge basement for cattle. The rationale for such a design is to make it difficult for animal rights extremists to break-in. I suspect other universities keep animals in the basement for the same reason.