Case Western Reserve University Transgenic & Targeting Facility

The Case Transgenic and Targeting Facility is the sole transgenic core in the Cleveland area, serving investigators at CWRU, UHCMC, CCF, the VA Hospital, Metro-Health Hospital and Kent State University. The Transgenic Facility is competitive with transgenic cores at other academic institutions in success rates, turnaround and pricing. The transgenic and targeted mice we have made for our clients have been featured in over 140 publications since 2004, and include many publications in high impact journals. As a local service, it has the advantages of direct access to consultation and training, better pricing of services, and control of mouse pathogens.

The Director consults on scientific and strategic issues, while the core staff educates users on practical matters. The core has helped a number of labs with minimal or no experience transition into mouse genetic research programs.

Rederivation to Specific Pathogen Free status is much cheaper locally than from commercial services. The shipment of mice by regular couriers from other academic cores (rather than the dedicated trucks used by commercial vendors) raises concerns about pathogen acquisition during shipping. The cost of services is comparable to those for internal users at other academic cores--typically external users are charged higher fees, and must pay for shipping of mice and materials.

Scientific and strategic consultations with the core director begin with discussion of the scientific goals and the best means of meeting those goals, whether through the creation of new transgenic or mutant mice, or through the use of existing strains from public resources. Investigators and their staff vary greatly in their level of expertise and experience with mouse genetics: users with little or no experience are strongly encouraged to meet with the core director for a scientific consultation.

The core director and staff train investigators in mouse genetics and biology and in the practical aspects of breeding and genotyping mice. The practical aspects are taught to investigators and their staff through direct interaction and through the core's web site. The practical information ranges from how to sex mice to the appropriate controls for tissue-specific knockouts. Relevant and up-to-date information is provided on the facility web site. The site hosts original information about mouse biology, genetics and breeding, conceptual information for which genetic technologies are best suited for experimental goals, the design of transgene and gene targeting vectors, and the timeline, costs, investigator effort, and expected results for each technology and protocol.

When orders are placed, a core staff member contacts the user to guide them through practical aspects, and request any necessary materials (maps, DNAs, assays to validate genotype). Users are sent a link to a tracking page on the web that keeps them updated on the progress of the job through automatic updates from the core database.