The Genome Editing Facility’s purpose is to provide a state-of-the-art facility for the generation of novel mice and the services for cryopreservation, recovery, IVF, and rederivation of unique mouse lines.  The Genome Editing Core Facility is a fee-for-service core facility of the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine.

The Core offers production of CRISPR/Cas9 based gene editing to create humanized animal models which are widely used for various diseases, drug screening, diagnostics and personalized treatments.  Many kinds of mutations can be introduced, including point mutations such as SNPs, LoxP sites, reporter genes, protein tags, and deletions. The Core offers conventional pronuclear injection for the production of transgenic models.  Contact the core director for consultation on these services.

Sperm/embryo cryopreservation is offered as a vehicle to archive valuable mouse lines and protect these lines from unexpected natural disasters, such as a disease outbreak or the loss of animal support services due to a widespread power disruption. Sperm /embryo cryopreservation is also an alternative to retaining maintenance colonies of valuable mice for unfunded projects. The Core’s sperm cryopreservation service utilizes kits from The Jackson Labs.

Embryo rederivation and IVF services are offered to clean up both imported and in-house mouse lines with unacceptable pathogen loads. This service is offered through coordination with the Office of Animal Resources veterinary staff. They provide some procedural oversight when particularly dangerous mouse pathogens are involved.

The Core offers Mouse Colony management for created projects. This includes backcrossing and sequencing.

Mouse Colony Genotyping service is offered.  This includes Tail DNA prep and PCR screening.

Visit the Fees and Service Request Forms to initiate service request and view current fees.  Contact the facility director regarding questions about project capability, consultation on projects, timelines, service fees, and billing questions.

Note: We can now provide microinjection services for investigators outside the State of Iowa. Contact the facility director with specific requests.

Publication Acknowledgement:

Transgenic mice were generated at the University of Iowa Genome Editing Core Facility directed by William Paradee, PhD and supported in part by grants from the NIH and from the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine. We wish to thank Norma Sinclair, Rongbin Guan, and Joanne Schwarting for their technical expertise in generating transgenic mice.