The facility also maintains a Planer Biomed Kryo-10 controlled rate freezer that will allow the freezing of mouse embryos. Liquid nitrogen is maintained to run the freezer and fill a Thermolyne Locator 8 Cryo Biological Storage System with sonar-equipped monitoring of liquid nitrogen level as our embryo repository. With a capacity of 3,500 cages, this facility is dedicated for the housing of transgenic mice. In consideration of the fact that transgenic projects necessitate large numbers of mice, the charges for this facility are maintained at a considerably reduced level. Investigators who are planning projects that will generate lines of genetically altered mice, and who would like to obtain space within the facility, should make an application to the Transgenic Facility Users Committee, addressed to Dr. Richard Rahija at DUMC Box 3180.
Investigators provide appropriate DNA for microinjection.
The facility performs microinjection into the pronucleus of fertilized eggs, implantation into pseudopregnant females, and analysis of progeny mice for insertion of the transgene. DNA isolated from this library is compatible with the ES cells used by the facility for gene targeting. More importantly, the entire library is available as a gridded array of clones where individual clones occupy a specific position in the array. Thus, a positive hybridization immediately defines a unique clone, eliminating the need for successive rounds of screening to isolate the desired clone. In practice, the investigator provides a suitable probe and the facility then screens the gridded array of clones.