The Facility
The facility's essential purpose is the provision of centralized instrumentation and expertise for the generation, breeding and analysis of both transgenic and gene-targeted animals in support of research initiated by Iowa and Iowa State primary investigators. The facility functions by providing supplies, diverse and well maintained equipment, technical animal services for the making of genetically modified rodents, molecular biology services, animal husbandry and project consultant expertise. The Transgenic and Genome Manipulation Facility is a fee-for-service core facility of the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine.
Historically, investigators, or staff whom they support, have prepared transgene constructs and submitted those constructs to the Transgenic and Genome Manipulation Facility for pronuclear micro injection.The facility does the pronuclear micro injection, prepares the tail DNA samples and screens for founder animals for a single fee. Highly experienced facility staff perform all manipulations required to generate transgenic animals for the investigator and will identify founder transgenic animals by PCR amplification using primers supplied by the user. The facility delivers a minimum of three independent transgenic founders per construct. The facility director is always available to provide vector design and construction expertise and will provide consultation to investigators regarding the breeding of transgenic lines and and gene targeted animal models.
Detailed progress reports will be maintained within the facility for all ongoing projects, together with all data required for proper contribution of the facility to published reports or grant applications by investigators.
A fee for service vector design and construction for all manner of transgenic and gene targeting projects is expected to be added to the facility soon. The facility director has extensive experience in both transgenic and gene-targeting vector design. Furthermore, the facility is now able to do gene-targeting in ES cells, sperm cryopreservation to archive mouse lines, embryo cryopreservation, mouse rederivations and reanimation of cryopreserved mouse embryos.
A number of new services are planned for 2013. The second quarter of 2013, the facility anticipates adding chimera production from gene-targeted mouse embryonic stem cells via both diploid embryo aggregation and blastocyst injection. A number of other services are planned as time for training allows. Several methods for rescuing mouse lines will be added and the direct production of gene-targeted mice without the intermediate stage of chimera breeding is under study.
User laboratories should be prepared to receive and maintain their animal models when delivered by the facility. All investigators must have prior University Animal Care and Use Committee (UACUC) and Recombinant DNA approval for the experiments proposed and that approval must be on file with the Animal Care Unit and the facility director.
Limited clean animal breeding and husbandry is provided by an Animal Care Unit that is integrated directly into the facility with dedicated personnel experienced in the handling and maintenance of genetically modified mice.
Mouse Strains:
FVB/N*, C57BL/6J X SJL/J (B6SJL, Jackson Laboratories) C57Bl/6J X DBA/2* (B6D2F1, Jackson Laboratories)
* preferred mouse strains
Note:
We can now provide microinjection services for investigators outside the State of Iowa. Contact the facility director with specific requests.
Publication Acknowledgement:
Transgenic mice were generated at the University of Iowa Transgenic and Genome Manipulation Facility directed by L. Phillip Sanford, PhD and supported in part by grants from the NIH and from the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine. We wish to thank Norma Sinclair, Patricia Yarolem and Joanne Schwarting for their technical expertise in generating transgenic mice.