This application proposes a renewal of the Mutant Mouse Resource and Research Center (MMRRC) at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX). Highly sophisticated genome engineering technologies, a well-characterized genome, mammalian physiology and economical husbandry requirements make laboratory mice the mainstay of biomedical research on disease mechanism and for disease modeling. The NIH has recognized that the potential impact of genetically engineered mice for biomedical research cannot be fully realized without a centralized effort to identify, archive, evaluate, characterize, and distribute valuable strains of mice to qualified biomedical researchers. The MMRRC provides this centralized repository function. With over 80 years of mouse genetics and mouse resource experience, The Jackson Laboratory joined the MMRRC in 2009 and since has been a key member of the consortium. This proposal requests on-going support for The Jackson Laboratory as one of the four MMRRC core repositories. As a member of the MMRRC consortium, The Jackson Laboratory will contribute to the development and improvement of consortium-wide standard operating procedures. The MMRRC at JAX will follow these mutually agreed upon standard operating procedures in its efforts to import, archive (through cryopreservation of sperm and/or embryos) and distribute biomedically important strains of mice and related materials. The MMRRC at JAX will also provide related services on a fee-for-service basis and will conduct high-risk, high-return research projects that fit within the overall goals of the consortium.
The Mutant Mouse Resource and Research Center (MMRRC) at The Jackson Laboratory proposed herein will serve as a resource for mouse models of human disease. The laboratory mouse remains the most powerful model organism for biomedical research due to its mammalian physiology, its well-characterized, accessible genome and economical husbandry. New, pivotal advances in DNA sequencing and genetic engineering technologies mean that the laboratory mouse can now be engineered with unprecedented speed and sophistication; such that now, more than ever, scientists are relying on laboratory mice, not only for basic research on disease mechanism, but also in direct modeling of human genetic mutations in the context of complex mammalian physiology, gene by genome interactions and pre-clinical drug testing. It is the responsibility of the MMRRC centers to archive these valuable research models, to make them available to the scientific community, to provide critical genotypic and phenotypic information, and to provide related services.
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