Mouse Genetics

The Mouse Genetics Core Facility provides investigators the possibility of generating genetically engineered mice by transgenic and gene targeting methodologies. The core can generate, genetically manipulate, and select mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells from various genetic strains for injection into blastocysts. Alternatively, these genetically modified ES cells can be differentiated in vitro by the core facility into various cell types for investigator research. The core also offers injection of transgenes into fertilized oocytes.

The facility can advise investigators on the generation of transgenic and targeting constructs for simple knock-out/knock-in and for tissue-specific and conditional mutations as well as strategies for screening transfected ES cells and mouse mutants. In addition, the core facility performs rederivation of "dirty" mice by embryo transfer and cryopreservation of mouse strains (embryos).

Our Services

The following is a list of services commonly provided by our facility. If you have a specific service request, please fill out this service request form. Completed service request forms and any inquiries about these services or any additional services not listed below should be forwarded to MouseGenetics@NJHealth.org.

Loss of Allele, a quantitative PCR technique, will be used to rapidly identify putative positives for secondary screening.

This service includes the design, purchase, and validation of suitably positioned primer/probe pairs for your targeting construct, preparation of genomic DNA from targeted ES cell clones, and loss of allele (LOA) analysis. If the primer/probe set passes our validation tests (for primer efficiency), the screening of ES clones can be quite rapid, within a month or less.

Sperm will be cryopreserved and placed in long term storage in liquid nitrogen. We will verify the quality of frozen sperm by IVF.

Sperm from 2 to 3 males of the desired genotype will be harvested and cryopreserved from 14-20 week old proven males, which have been actively bred and then rested for 5-7 days before sperm harvest. Twenty straws of sperm will be cryopreserved. The quality of the cryopreserved sperm will be verified by IVF with wildtype C57Bl/6 eggs. In addition, annual cryostorage fees will be charged to the investigator based upon the number of straws.

Sperm will be harvested from one or two proven male mice to generate 2-cell stage embryos, which will be stored in liquid nitrogen.

Twenty-five C57Bl/6 females will be purchased for your project, superovulated, and unfertilized eggs will be collected. Fresh sperm will be harvested from 1 or 2 males of the desired genotype that have proven breeding success and will be used with the eggs for in vitro fertilization. All healthy 2-cell stage embryos will be cryopreserved for the investigator. If 300 or more 2-cell stage embryos are cryopreserved, a test rederivation will be performed, transferring embryos into pseudopregnant females for the generation of live pups. In addition, annual cryostorage fees will be charged to the investigator based upon the number of straws of embryos stored ($50 for 1-25 straws/vials).

We can rederive mouse lines from fresh or cryopreserved sperm using IVF. Resulting embryos are transferred into pseudopregnant females to give rise to live offspring.

This service involves harvesting sperm from a proven male stud(s), ideally ranging from 14-20 weeks of age, (or using cryopreserved sperm) and culturing it with C57BL/6 unfertilized eggs from 10 donor females under IVF conditions to generate embryos. Resulting embryos are transferred into pseudopregnant females.