Embryo Cryopreservation

Freezing mouse embryos is a convenient way to preserve important mouse lines for possible future use or to protect them against loss due to infection, lab accident, etc. Embryo freezing can also result in substantial reduction in housing cost and cage use.

A set of five to seven young male mice will be needed to generate enough embryos for each freezing set. The transfer of male founders will be completed by ULAR, after proper documentation is submitted.

A minimum of 300 healthy embryos will be frozen per transgenic/knockout line that is hemizygous for the transgene. In the case where the mouse line is homozygous for the transgene, 150 embryos will suffice. Several weeks after the completion of the freezing process, a few embryo samples will be removed and processed through thawing and monitoring development to assess their viability and ability to develop to term. The facility will store the frozen samples and maintain the records of your cryopreserved lines, at the rate of $24.00/line/year.

Alternate Services Available from the TCMF Core for Cryopreservation and Re-derivation of Mouse Lines

Investigator’s Responsibilities

The investigator should contact Jean Richa (215-573-3023) to discuss the plans for the service. These would include the availability of the males, the possibility of admitting the animals into the barrier facility, the number of mouse lines involved, and the service fees.

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