- Animal Models (AM) shared resource The Animal Models Shared Resource (AM) assists LCCC members with all aspects of mouse-related research. It consists of three arms that seamlessly interact to provide a broad range of experimental approaches and expert advice. The SR staff assists with complex surgical techniques, animal handling, xenograft tumor models, colony management, therapeutic trials, imaging studies, allele phenotyping and the design and production of genetically engineered mice (GEM) and provides access to a colony of immunocompromised animals for PDX studies. This SR adds value to the Cancer Center by enabling cost- efficient murine testing for all members including those without significant infrastructure and expertise for animal work. The SR is co-directed by Charlene Ross, Dale Cowley and David Darr, with faculty co-advisors. Ms. Santos has served as a Facility Director providing expertise in mouse xenograft models while Dr. Cowley has led efforts in the design and generation of GEM models since 2005. Mr. Darr has been added to the leadership since the last cycle to add expertise and administrative oversight in pre-clinical testing in GEM models and expand SR capabilities. The AM has grown significantly during the last cycle, driven largely by increased NIH funding to UNC investigators, the 50% increase in campus animal space and a strategic plan featuring cancer genetics and preclinical therapeutics testing. The SR has 61 LCCC users, the remaining 22 Non-member users are collaborators located at Cancer Centers across the country. Importantly, Marsico Hall opened in late 2014 with 2,000 additional cages for longitudinal mouse therapy and imaging protocols. The availability of this space has also enhanced the interactions between this SR and the Imaging SR. The AM has become the nexus for Cancer Center members exploiting the power of GEMs and xenograft tumor models for basic and translational cancer research. The result is publications in high impact journals such as Cell, JNCI, JCI, Nature, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., Cancer Cell, Cancer Discovery and CCR. We request an increased budget of 226,107 that will represent 10% of the total AM budget to promote expanded use.
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