Mouse Production and Housing Facility

MAPS is pleased to offer a secure cryopreservation program to CMMT and CFRI researchers currently maintaining mouse colonies within the CMMT Mouse Facility. Sperm cryopreservation offers an efficient, cost effective method of strain preservation and is currently the preferred technique utilized by our barrier facility users.

Preserving rare and unique transgenic strains, preventing phenotype loss and reducing genetic drift, as well as protection against breeding cessation are some reasons to cryopreserve your mouse strains. Cryopreservation is more cost effective than maintaining breeding colonies that are not currently involved in any studies, reduces the amount of technician time spent on colony management, and frees up valuable space within the animal facility. Cryopreservation also reduces the risk of losing your precious mouse strains to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, disease outbreaks or contamination within the facility, and other unpredictable situations.

ANIMAL REQUIREMENTS

Sperm Cryopreservation

• 2 males age 10-16 weeks.

• Males that have not been bred

• 5 donor females (background strain) are required for IVF to assess the fertilization rate of the cryopreserved sperm.

Embryo Cryopreservation

• Minimum of 5 studs under 6 months of age (10 preferred).

• Several batches of female donors will be required to generate an appropriate amount of embryos to successfully cryopreserve the strain.

• Number of donor females is strain dependent and will vary (minimum 10 per batch of embryo collection).

SPERM CRYOPRESERVATION

• 20 straws frozen per strain.

• ~10 recoveries to live born pups if researcher requests resurrection of the strain.

• All cryopreserved sperm is recovered via in-vitro fertilization to assess the sperm viability.

Cryopreserved sperm with a fertilization rate of above 20% is considered to be successfully frozen. However, there is always a chance that strains which exhibit good fertilization rates are not capable of generating live born pups. Because of this investigators can choose to have the embryos resulting from IVF, cultured to blasts, and if desired transferred into pseudo-pregnant recipients to generate live born pups as a guarantee that their strain will be recoverable. Researchers are asked to maintain active breeding colonies until the cryopreservation of their strain has been proven successful.

FEES

Standard sperm cryopreservation projects include one year of liquid nitrogen storage inside the barrier facility and the cost of IVF fertilization to test the viability of the cryopreserved sperm. Strain recovery to live born pups requires an additional fee to cover cage per diems and the extra surgical procedures. Any cryopreservation projects that must be completed with embryos instead of sperm or with males that do not meet the ideal criteria above may require a special fee structure. MAPS also offers strain rescue and in-vitro fertilization (IVF) services. Please contact us at mapsinfo@cmmt.ubc.ca or use the following Contact Form.

Back to top

The MAPS (Mouse Animal Production Service) team will inject targeted embryonic stem (ES) cells into blastocysts to produce chimera mice for your project. The investigator is responsible for supplying MAPS with targeted embryonic stem cells (ESC). MAPS can provide untargeted ESC to the investigator upon request. One round of 50 or 100 blastocysts will be injected with ES cells and implanted into recipient mothers.

Once chimera pups are born, they will be shipped to the investigator. MAPS does not typically provide the breeding of transgenic mice due to cage space restrictions. The investigator is responsible for breeding their chimeras for germ line transmission and testing. The core facility cannot guarantee germline transmission. Investigators are urged to submit cells from 2-3 ESC clones to maximize chances of chimera production.

ES cells must be MAP and mycoplasma tested before admittance into the Mouse facility. If required, we can provide these services for an additional fee. It is mandatory that all negative MAP testing results be submitted to the CMMT Mouse Facility. Once ESC have been tested all further culturing for production of chimeras must be completed within the CMMT Mouse Facility.

FEES

Fees are specific to the requirements of the individual project. Services offered are flexible and projects can be customized to meet individual needs. For project-based pricing please contact us at mapsinfo@cmmt.ubc.ca or use the following Contact Form.

Back to top

The Suite for the Analysis of Mouse Behavior provides access to a wide array of systems for the phenotypic characterization of large numbers of transgenic mice using standardized behavioural protocols.

Two innovative design features make the facility unique in Canada. Firstly, it has been designed to take a 'genomic' approach to behavioral testing, permitting a high throughput, computer automated methodology of data collection. Secondly, its location within the barrier facility enables the testing of mice without removing them from their pathogen-free environment. This feature is also essential for the phenotypic study of developmental diseases, such as autism, where tests must be conducted on newborn and growing mice.

In collaboration with Dr. Elizabeth M. Simpson, researchers are able to study behavior phenotypes of transgenic mice such as memory, anxiety, coordination and balance. Studies of mouse models for diseases and disorders such as violence, autism and juvenile ALS are ongoing.

Back to top