Core facility alters genetic background of transgenic mice in half the time

The UNMC Mouse Genome Engineering Core Facility is now able to alter the genetic background of mutant mice lines in significantly less time than it typically takes.

Below, we learn about the new service from C.B. Gurumurthy, Ph.D., who took over as director of the core facility last year.

C.B. Gurumurthy, Ph.D., and the team at the UNMC Mouse Genome Engineering Core Facility can generate transgenic mice in about half the time in takes typically.

Researchers need genetically engineered mice in a particular strain background for a specific research purpose and to get the background strain they need often takes about three years using a process called “congenic breeding.” With a method called “marker assisted speed congenic,” we can reduce this time to about a year and a half.

Where else is this service offered?

Just a handful of other labs, including only one other core lab, offer services using processes similar to ours. This is because the formula for “marker assisted speed congenic” is not readily available, which means all of us who do it had to try out various markers or formulas from scratch. The method that we use is about two to three times cheaper than a newer method that is used at some core facilities and commercial sources. We plan to publish our protocols and marker details to make this work more common.

Are there other new services being offered at the core since your arrival?

We have introduced two other new services since last year:

• Mouse genotyping — a method to identify genetically modified mutant offsprings in a typical mouse breeding colony; and
  
• Designing and construction of targeting vectors, a complicated and time-consuming step in creating a mutant mouse.

The mouse genotyping service can be used by any investigator who maintains transgenic or knockout mice colonies. Only about a half-dozen of more than 65 transgenic core facilities across the country offer this service.

Designing and construction of targeting vectors typically takes about a year if it is done in an individual lab.

To whom do you offer these services?

We’d be glad to work with investigators from the UNMC campus as well as those off campus. Contact me at 402-559-3338 or cgurumurthy@unmc.edu if you’d like to know more about our services.