Breeding Services

Breeding Core

The Breeding Core is a specialized division of the Laboratory Animal Resource Center.  The goal of the Breeding Core is to support research projects by providing breeding services in a sterile environment.  We can breed and maintain your strain of interest and deliver animals for experiment at designated time points or at your request.  Simply provide us with your strain of interest and project goals and we will breed accordingly to meet your experimental needs.

For a printable overview of our services please click here.

 

Breeding Services

All breeding services are performed by experienced LARC technicians and are provided on a recharge basis.  Current services include (but are not limited to):

  • Setting up matings; sexing and weaning pups
  • Animal identification via ear notch, ear tag, or tattoo
  • Tail snip collection for PCR – samples can be submitted to Transnetyx or to your lab
  • Timed matings and copulation plug checks
  • Blood collection
  • IP or SQ injections
  • Litter weight at weaning
  • Perinatal screens
  • Antibiotic water administration
  • Special diet (must be irradiated)
  • Rederivation of cryopreserved or existing lines

 

Facility

The breeding services provided by LARC take place in a dedicated Breeding Core Facility with increased barrier procedures and a higher health status.  Animals housed in this area are screened for all pathogens excluded at other facilities, but are also screened for Helicobacter, Murine Norovirus, and Pasteurella pneumotropica.  In order to maintain this high health status, animals may not enter the facility unless they are rederived from an existing colony or are shipped directly from an approved vendor and undergo a quarantine period of 5 weeks (matings can be set up after 3 weeks when the sentinel is screened).  In addition only LARC personnel are allowed access to the barrier - laboratory staff does not have access to these rooms.  All mice in the barrier are housed in Innovive ventilated microisolator cages.  Forceps soaked in disinfectant are used to handle mice during cage changing. Water is purified through acidification. Special diets and/or water treatment can be provided per investigator request (all diets must be irradiated).

 

Database

LARC maintains breeding records using breeding colony management software that tracks stock/strain/line and heritage. This information is available to investigators online through RIO. Investigators may request breeding scheme strategy adjustments at any time by e-mailing requests to the Breeding Core Supervisor.  Culling by gender, genotype, or age can also be performed to meet the needs of individual studies.

 

Rederivation

Rederivation is the most secure method for transferring mouse strains from conventional facilities to specific pathogen-free facilities or as a solution to address disease outbreaks.  If your strain is located at another UCSF facility or is being imported from a collaborator the Breeding Core can rederive this strain for you.  For more information please see our rederivation page.

 

Contact Information

Interested in using the Breeding Core to manage your project?  Simply fill out a Breeding Core request through RIO.  To create a request go to RIO > Home > Rederivation, Cryopreservation, etc. > Breeding Core > Create new request.  To create a new request you will need to indicate the strain name, breeding strategy, and the desired experimental animals to produce.  Once your request is submitted a consultation will be set up to discuss your project in greater detail.

For questions or more information please contact the Breeding Core via phone or fax:  Phone: 415-502-2253      Fax: 415-502-0138

 

Super Barrier

The Super Barrier is a specialized area within LARC space where investigators can house and manage their mouse strains in a more controlled environment with increased barrier procedures.  Like the Breeding Core, animals housed in this area are screened for pathogens excluded at other facilities, but are also screened for Helicobacter, Murine Norovirus, and Pasteurella pneumotropica.  Animals may not enter this facility unless they are rederived from an existing colony or are shipped directly from an approved vendor and undergo a quarantine period of 5 weeks.  Only investigators who have animals housed in the Super Barrier are allowed access to this area, and it must be entered before any other housing area.  This space is an ideal environment for immunocompromised or sensitive strains, such as NSGs.

For questions or more information please contact the Breeding Core/Super Barrier via phone or fax: Phone: 415-502-2253        Fax: 415-502-0138