Repository Services

The utility of mouse model systems to study various human diseases has increased dramatically in recent years. This is due, in large part, to the creation and availability of transgenic and knockout mice. The help facilitate the use of these mouse strains, the National Institutes of Health has supported efforts by the Jackson Laboratories to establish and maintain colonies of these mice. While this repository of mutant mice has been an invaluable resource for scientific investigators, quite often demand for some of the most popular strains can result in a long delay in obtaining requested mice. In addition, many strains that Jackson Laboratories maintains still carry some mouse pathogens that may interfere with experimental interpretation. Once these animals are obtained, experiments requiring a few dozen mice can take several more months to set up, as several rounds of breeding are required to generate the requisite numbers of animals. In many cases genotypic analysis of resulting progeny must be performed, further increasing the time needed to set up an experiment.

To overcome some of these problems, we propose establishing a small-scale mutant mouse repository at VARI. This would take advantage of both the large amount of available mouse space presently available at VARI, and the high containment barrier facility available at VARI. This repository would be overseen by Bart Williams and a staffed technician (LAT) who would oversee a technician who would maintain these colonies.

We would envision the repository working in the following manner. The Users/Oversight committee would aid in determining which strains of mice would be included in the repository. An investigator who wanted to do a particular experiment would contact the repository and tell them the number and type of animals that were required for the desired experiment. The repository technician would rederive animals into the facility (if necessary to rid the animals of mouse pathogens) and set up matings to generate the number of mice needed. The technician would also provide the investigators with material so that they could genotype the resulting progeny (if necessary). At the appropriate time, the mice would then be sent to the investigator so that he/she could then perform his/her experiment. Depending upon the availability of animal holding space, investigators could arrange with the repository to perform simple experimental procedures on genetically engineered mice. This would be especially valuable to researchers at some state universities that do not have adequate mouse facilities to perform such experiments. In addition, small biotechnology companies that could not afford the capital expenses related to constructing and maintaining an animal facility would be able to answer experimental questions using the power of the new mouse model systems.

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