The Transgenic Core Facility (TCF) is located within the Skirball SPF mouse facility. A satellite tissue culture facility for ES cell work is located in Tisch 440.

DNA injections are performed in eggs from any strain of interest to each investigator (additional fee for any non-FVB strain). Purification protocols are available for download.

Chimeric mice are generated via ES cell injection into a blastocyst strain of the investigator's choice (with an additional fee for any non-C57Bl/6 strain). Any ES cell line that is not obtained from the TCF must be MAP tested prior to injection. It is highly recommended that all targeted clones be karyotyped prior to injection. All chimeric mice are transferred to the investigator's colony for breeding to germline after serological screening has been done on all mothers (and provided the results are negative).

The TCF also offers rederivation services in conjunction with DLAR, embryo cryopreservation (8-cell), sperm cryopreservation and in vitro fertilization. Other basic services include generation of timed pregnant females, husbandry (by special request), tail biopsy and mouse identification marking.

The TCF will attempt to meet all specialized requests. Please contact the Director for further information.

Core Lab services:

Zygote Injection
Users supply DNA constructs suitable for pronuclear injection into fertilized mouse eggs. Transgenic mice are produced in a variety of different genetic backgrounds: inbred FVB/N and C57BL/6, and hybrids, or other chosen strains of donor mice. Potential founder animals are provided to the research investigator at weaning for genotyping. Fees: $1,100 per day for FVB/N strain guaranteed with at least 120 eggs injected and 1 founder. $1,155 per day for C57BL/6 strain with no guarantees on number of eggs and pups born. $970 per day for SW strain guaranteed with at least 120 eggs injected and 1 founder. Fees for specialty strains are $905 per day plus cost of purchase and housing. (NYU Cancer Institute and Skirball members receive a 20% discount on these fees.)

Blastocyst Injection
For C57BL/6 strains: Depending on quality of ES cells, 30-50 embryos with no guarantees. Fees are $1175 per day. (NYU Cancer Institute and Skirball members receive a 20% discount on this fee.)

Rederivation
Any strain. Fee $300 per day.

Mouse sperm and embryo cryopreservation
Fee $600 per day for isolation of embryos from up to 20 female mice or $750 per day for isolation from up to 30 female mice. For sperm freezing of any strain, fees are $240 per day.

IVF
Any strain. Fee $1,210 per day.

Pronuclear Construct Purification
We will purify the insert from your plasmid-based construct and prepare the DNA for microinjection. To utilize this service, please provide the facility with 75-100 ug of DNA digested with the appropriate restriction enzyme, and a picture of your gel with the band to be excised circled. The fee is $200 per construct. You can request this service by checking the appropriate box on the transgenic request form. While many factors can influence the success of transgenic founder production, DNA purification is certainly a central determinant. As such, we request that users allow us to purify the DNA for transgenic production. While we will accept DNA purified by laboratories for transgenic production, we will be unable to offer guarantees of minimal founder production under these circumstances.

Tail Cutting
To expedite transgenic and rederivation experiments and to reduce animal housing charges, we can provide tail biopsies of liveborn mice with ear markings. This service is available now for 21-day old mice. Once we have a reliable mouse identification system in place, we intend to also provide this service for younger mice. This service is available for identification of founder mice and rederived mice that have not yet been transferred to the PI. Since microinjection is our first priority, we may not always be able to accommodate your requests. To request this service, please check the appropriate box on the transgenic or rederivation request form. The fee is $40 per hour.

Generation of targeted ES cell lines
The Gene Targeting Technologies Core lab was recently established, and we are currently training a technician. This facility will be fully operational within the next 1-2 months. We are accepting targeting constructs now. The cost of this service is $5000 per targeting construct and will include genotyping the clones that we obtain following selection ($4000 without genotyping). To encourage the use of this facility, we will not charge for this service unless we generate at least one targeted clone. This guarantee will be available for the first six targeting constructs that we receive, with a limit of one construct per PI. To request this service, please email for a request form.

Transgenic Database
An Online Transgenic Database is currently under development by IT. You will be able to use this database to determine the progress of your experiments by simply logging onto the database. In addition, service request forms and billing will be done electronically. This database should be available within the next few months.