The purpose of the Animal and Antibody Core is to provide animals and antibodies to all components of this Program Project. This includes: 1) the purchase and maintenance of non-human primates, 2) the production and maintenance of genetically typed MGH MHC inbred miniature swine, and 3) the production and testing of monoclonal antibody regents specific for the tissues and cells of swine and baboons. The Core will provide support for the purchase, housing, and care of the non-human primates, which will be required in all four projects. This Core will provide the facilities, management and technical expertise necessary to produce genetically typed inbred miniature swine for the delivery of organs, blood and tissues to all four Projects. This herd will be maintained and monitored with the use of a computer database written by the Co- Investigator, who will coordinate the breeding, quality control, allocation, transportation and utilization of animals in each Project. The largest commitment of animals will be Projects 1 and 2, which deals predominantly with large animal transplantation. However, blood and tissues from the non-human primates in Projects 1 and 2 will be required for the studies of thromboregulation and transmission of infectious agents in Projects 3 and 4, respectively. This strategy was adopted to limit the number of animals conserve resources, and lower costs. The core will also continue an ongo8ng effort to produce, phenotype and biochemically characterize a large, existing panel of murine monoclonal antibodies reactive with swine and baboon stromal and lymphocyte populations. These mabs will allow improved characterization of swine cell lineages reconstituting baboon recipients (Projects 1 and 2), and of engrafted pig thymi (Project 2). These mabs will also assist in defining the molecular interactions critical to endothelial thromboregulation and transmission of infectious agents (Projects 3 and 4). In addition, T and B cell-specific mabs conjugated to toxins will be used to deplete lymphocyte populations in baboons as part of the recipient conditioning regimens in Projects 1 and 2. The success of each component of this program will be dependent on the quality, predictability, and accessibility of the animals and antibodies provided by this Core.
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