New RML Vivarium Opens for Research

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NIAID Deputy Director Dr. Hugh Auchincloss (r) and Holland cut the ribbon outside the new Comparative Medicine Center on Apr. 11 at RML in Hamilton, Mont. Standing to Holland’s left is Jim Parr, project senior contracting officer.

A three-story, 120,000-square-foot vivarium (animal facility) opened in May at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories Comparative Medicine Center (RCMC)—a research complex run by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)—in Hamilton, Mont. 

RCMC’s new vivarium is a centralized animal receiving and holding building that will support all biosafety levels of research throughout the RML campus and research projects on virology, bacteriology and viral diseases including work on SARS-CoV-2. The facility will provide expanded capabilities for studies with exotic species along with special imaging equipment and a multi-vector insectary.  

A recent ceremony recognized the dozens of construction contractors and federal employees who have worked on building the vivarium, which began in November 2021. This climate-controlled facility replaces a 60-year-old building. 

The new facility is a companion project to the expansion of NIAID’s Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center (VRC) on NIH’s Bethesda campus. The VRC’s five-story addition is slated to open this summer.