The Joslin Foundation and JAX® Services
JAX® NOTES Issue 510, Summer 2008
A Sample Diabetes Breeding Project
The Joslin Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Center for Immune Tolerance in Diabetes at Harvard (CITDH), a collaborative group of eight laboratories based at Harvard Medical School is working with JAX® Services on an innovative breeding project which supports diabetes research.
We began working with Dr. Christophe Benoist, Director of the CITDH Mouse Lines Core, in 2002, when we initially setup dedicated colonies of JAX® Mice along with colonies of Dr. Benoist's own research strains. The CITDH performs basic immunological research to understand the fundamental mechanisms of immune tolerance, and how these mechanisms go awry in mouse models of the disease and in humans with type 1 (autoimmune) diabetes. CITDH studies range from explorations of transcription factors that control the activation of autoimmune T lymphocytes to pre-clinical trials of treatments to reduce pancreatic inflammation, and thus potentially reverse diabetes.
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| NOD/ShiLtJ (Stock Number 001976) Non-obese diabetic inbred strain. |
Research at the CITDH makes use of the powerful approaches offered by transgenic and knockout manipulations in the NOD mouse. The CITDH Mouse Lines Core supports CITDH investigators by constructing transgenic and knockout mice on the NOD background, providing the investigators with rapid access to a range of experimental mice. The CITDH also makes its strains available to diabetes researchers worldwide, which is greatly facilitated by our shipping logistics.
Initially, we managed about 15 colonies for CITDH, but the projects grew, and we now manage some 40 colonies, most of which were imported from CITDH colonies at Harvard. Nine of the colonies are JAX® Mice or variants thereof, including NOD/ShiLtJ (001976), NOD.129P2(B6)-B2mtm1Unc/J (002309), NOD.129S7(B6)-Ifngtm1Ts/DvsJ (002575), NOD.129P2(B6)-Il4tm1Cgn/DvsJ (004222), NOD.Cg-Il10tm1Cgn/DvsJ (004266),
NOD.B6-(D6Mit254-D6Mit339)/CarJ (004482), NOD.129S2(B6)-Igh-6tm1Cgn/DoiJ (004639), NOD.129(B6)-Tnfsf4tm1Shr/DoiJ (005075), and NOD.Cg-Tg(TcraTcrbNY8.3)1Pesa/DvsJ (005868). A few of these strains were donated by the Harvard researchers to our Type 1 Diabetes Resource, with which the CITDH works closely.
The CITDH's project comprises several hundred cages. Each week, 30–50 mice are shipped to CITDH researchers, and, several times a month, mice are shipped from these colonies to collaborating diabetes researchers all over the world, including Australia, Germany, Japan, and France.
Managing these colonies is a full time job for one of our technicians, Jody Morse. In fact, to manage these colonies, Jody routinely enlists the help of other technicians. And, Diana Heckman, the JAX® Services Project Specialists dedicated to this project, communicates almost daily with CITDH line managers, Kimie Hattori or Susan Vitolo, and oversees the invoicing and shipments of mice. (Ms. Hattori offers a unique perspective to this program: She or members of her family have been involved with research using NOD mice almost since their inception.)
Not only is this project large, it is unique in that CITDH researchers are very involved in managing it – remotely from their laboratory. The Harvard researchers provided a computer and customized colony management software that CITDH technician in charge of the colonies can access. This close cooperation illustrates the flexibility and customization possible with JAX® Breeding Services and how we ensure that CITDH researchers have the mice they need for their critical research.
Dr. Benoist chose JAX® to manage CITDH's mouse colonies for several reasons. First, because of our expertise at raising, managing, and shipping laboratory mice. We’ve been at it for nearly 80 years, we have excellent facilities, and our animal caretakers are experienced with managing mouse strains with special needs. For example, having NOD backgrounds, the CITDH mice can be affected by diabetes. Consequently, they require particular monitoring and may need extra water and frequent bedding changes. Second, we maintain our mouse colonies at the highest possible health status. This guarantees that CITDH researchers and the international community receive mice at a health and safety status that is difficult to match in University facilities. The health status of our mice allows them to be shipped all over the world and readily imported into most research facilities.
Our work with CITDH staff has been a rewarding experience. We wish them continued success in their important research and hope that our joint effort will ultimately improve the lives of people with diabetes.
For Information on how JAX® Services can help with your research,
please contact us today at
jaxservices@jax.org,
or visit us on the web at
www.jax.org/jaxservices.
Additionally, if you are interested in obtaining mouse strains from the CITDH, see
www.citdh.org/mice_available.html
