The Transgenic Gene Targeting Core has been an integral part of Gladstone’s research for more than 20 years, producing mouse models as a service to investigators at Gladstone, UC San Francisco, and other research institutions. Transgenic and knock-out technologies enable scientists to learn how specific genes and proteins, or their variants, function in living animals with defined genetic backgrounds.

Contact

Junli Zhang, MD
Core Director
Email Email

 

Core Members

Carlos Benitez
Research Associate II

Sid Espineda
Animal Care Facility Supervisor

Junli Zhang
Core Director

 

Services Provided

Gladstone’s Transgenic Gene Targeting Core creates genetically modified mouse models as services for researchers at Gladstone, UC San Francisco, and outside institutions.

Researchers provide the reagents (DNA, ES cells, Cas9, gRNAs, etc.). The core performs microinjection or electroporation and transfers the embryos into recipient female mice.

CRISPR-Mediated Knock-Out and Knock-In Service

Microinjection of DNA

Microinjection of Mouse ES Cells

CRISPR-Mediated Knock-Out and Knock-In Service

CRISPR-Mediated Knock-Out and Knock-In mice: The core injects or electroporates the CRISPR reagents into C57BL/6 and FVB embryos. Contact the Core if you wish to use another strain.

  • Basic service: One day of microinjection or electroporation with a minimum guarantee of 75 injected or electroporated embryos transferred.
  • Premium service: Two days of microinjection or electroporation with a minimum guarantee of 150 injected or electroporated embryos transferred, or 10 pups born, or 2 transgenic founders produced, whichever comes first.

Microinjection of DNA

To generate transgenic animals, plasmid or BAC DNA can be injected in C57BL/6 or FVB/n strains. Contact the Core if you wish to use another strain.

  • Basic service: One day of microinjection with a minimum guarantee of 75 injected embryos transferred.
  • Premium service: Two days of microinjection with a minimum guarantee of 150 injected embryos transferred, or 10 pups born, or 2 transgenic founders produced, whichever comes first.

Microinjection of Mouse ES Cells

Researchers provide the ES cell clones to inject. The core injects the clones into the blastocysts of day-3.5 embryos, and transfers the embryos into recipient female mice.

  • Basic Service: Microinjection of one clone with a minimum guarantee of 40 injected embryos transferred, or 10 pups born, or two chimeric mice produced, whichever comes first.
  • Premium Service: Microinjection of 2–4 clones with a minimum guarantee of 90 injected embryos transferred, or 20 pups born, or four chimeric mice produced, whichever comes first.
 

Fees and Scheduling

Visit iLab for fee information and to schedule services.

How to Use the Core

You must have an approved IACUC protocol for each transgenic or knock-out/knock-in mouse model you wish to create.

  1. Contact Us
    Email us about your project before you request services in iLab.
    If you have any questions, contact us by email. We do not design constructs, however, we have access to many experts who can help with this step.
  2. Request Services
    Gladstone’s Transgenic Gene Targeting Core uses iLab to streamline the process of ordering, tracking, and billing. Register for an iLab account to request services.
    For users outside Gladstone, we require a PO number in order to initiate a project.
  3. Schedule Service
    Once we receive the request, we will schedule your experiments. While waiting times change based on demand, your experiment can typically be scheduled 4–5 weeks from the time we receive the request.
  4. Submit Samples
    You need to submit your DNA and/or CRISPR reagents before we can schedule their injection. For ES cells, we schedule the injections when we receive your request. ES clones for injection can be generated by your team or by the UCSF Cell and Genome Engineering Core.