Melissa McManus' duties at the nursery where she works include changing the infants' diapers, feeding them and checking vital signs every hour, just like any other maternity ward nurse.
Unlike the nurses in typical maternity wards, however, McManus has no expectations of a favorable survival rate among her patients. The infants she works with probably won't live longer than three weeks. And they certainly won't grow up to be healthy men and women.
McManus is a technician for a medical project in the Biomedical Research Building on UB's South Campus. This project uses lambs born prematurely to test a method of improving the long-term health prospects of premature human babies.
"If it wasn't for the fact that the patients in the beds are actually lambs," McManus said, "the facility would look nearly identical to the maternity ward in most hospitals."
The research is directed toward finding a way to increase the amount of nitric oxide in premature babies, who typically lack the high level of nitric oxide essential to their survival. Nitric oxide is part of the substance responsible for keeping babies' lungs open.
Researchers believe that administering a protein already found in human bodies, L-arganine, will spur the babies' development of nitric oxide.
In order to ensure that their underdeveloped lungs do not collapse, premature babies breathe through mechanical ventilators until their lungs fully develop. This allows them to naturally develop surfactant, a phospholipid (a derivative of fat), that keeps the lungs' liquid lining from sticking together.
Unfortunately, the use of ventilators can cause chronic lung problems for the babies, because of immense pressure put on their lungs.
"I have seen so many babies suffer (from chronic lung disease) and die," said Karen Wynn, a registered nurse practitioner at Children's Hospital in Buffalo. "Our research will eventually increase the quality of life, and at the same time, reduce the amount of time spent in the hospital."
Wynn is currently training to become a primary researcher on the project. She is working directly with the head researcher, Dr. Richard D. Bland, a neonatologist from Utah.
Lambs are chosen for research like this, said Wynn, because the newborn animals are both large enough and are the closest models to human babies, improving the applicability of the findings.
Researchers work with two lambs at a time, and control every aspect of their life from conception - their mothers are artificially inseminated - to the euthanasia preformed by the doctors.
It is necessary to euthanize the lambs, because not only are the lambs so weak it would be difficult for them to survive on their own, but also because part of the study requires post-mortem tests on the tissue of the lambs.
"It is not a cruel process," said Wynn. "We treat the lambs extremely well. If we didn't, I wouldn't work here."
During the testing process, one lamb acts as the control lamb, and is kept on a ventilator just as a premature baby would be. The other lamb is on a ventilator as well, but also receives L-arganine via an intravenous tube. Ideally, the lambs are twins, because the genetic similarities improve accuracy.
Once the lambs are born, McManus treats the lambs as if they were human babies.
"Every hour, I check in on the lamb I am currently assigned to," McManus said. "I perform routine checks on its blood pressure and heart rate. I feed him every few hours, and then suction his lungs every six hours."
Technicians must suction the lambs' lungs to remove mucus build-up, a common problem.
McManus said working with the lambs is easy because they are non-threatening, and even docile.
Working with the animals, however, is not without risk.
The animals can carry an infectious bacterium that has been known to cause Q-fever, a flu-like illness, in human beings who come in contact with the animals.
Q-fever is not generally regarded as an especially dangerous disease - less than 1 percent of all cases are fatal - but research centers, such as the one here at UB, do not take any risks.
Prior to working with the lambs, all potential personnel are tested to see if they are susceptible to the disease. Once they are determined to be at a low risk, all employees continue to be tested every six months.
In addition to ensuring the safety of the employees, the center is also responsible for the safety of anyone who comes close to the facility.
Under Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, the center is in a locked corridor of the Biomedical Research Building. No visitors are allowed, and the doors are emblazoned with biohazard warnings.
The center is awaiting approval from the National Institute of Health to extend its grant, thus sustaining the research for another five years.
Although they have not been able to test their methods on human babies yet, the researchers believe the progress they are making with the lambs will yield positive results for humans.
"This will save many babies' lives," Wynn said.
