Mouse Genetics, Metabolism & Microbiome

The UCSF NORC Biomedical Mouse Genetics, Metabolism & Microbiome core supports a suite of services facilitating studies in the mouse, an essential model organism in nutrition, metabolism and obesity research.

NORC members wishing to benefit from NORC support accessing these services please contact Myra Gloria (Core Administrator) and Allison Xu (Core Director).

Allison Xu, PhD | Core Director

 

Services Supported


Mouse body composition, food intake, and metabolism measurements

Provide technical support for UCSF investigators to conduct metabolic studies using a 16-chamber Comprehensive Lab Animal Monitoring System (CLAMS), a Rodent Incubator, an EchoMRI, and Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, which together allow measurement of food intake, water intake, motor activities, core temperature, and body composition in live mice under ambient temperature, thermoneutrality or cold exposure. The use of these instruments allows longitudinal measurements of key metabolic parameters in the same cohort of animals at different ages and under different feeding conditions, and will enable the accumulation of data over several months of time. The core also offers access to a Seahorse Bioscience XFe24 Extracellular Flux Analyzer, a platform for cellular metabolic assays, simultaneously measuring the two major energy producing pathways of the cell, mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis, in a 24-well microplate, in real-time.
 

Gnotobiotic core facility 

The Gnotobiotics Core provides germ-free mice, fully supported gnotobiotic experiments, and germ-free re-derivation of transgenic mouse strains to facilitate microbiome studies including studies on human transplanted microbiome.

 

Mouse genetic services:

Genome Engineering Core

The Facility provides ES cell targeting, genomic DNA extraction from 96-well plates, expansion of targeted ES cells, mycoplasma tests, chromosome counts, preparation of ES cells for microinjection, and CRISPR/Cas9 technologies.

Transgenenis and Blastocyte Injection Services

Provides services including microinjection of DNA for producing transgenic mice, microinjection of ES cells for producing gene knock-out mice, and 8 cell microinjection for producing 100% ES cell derived mouse embryos or mice. Transgenic Core work with UCSF ES Cell Targeting Core to provide a full-range of gene knock-out and knock-in services. Please contact the Genome Engineering Core for custom TALEN/CRISPR and ES cell targeting services. 

Cryopreservation and Rederivation Services

The cryopreservation and resuscitation services allow researchers to freeze and store embryos or sperm from research lines that they no longer wish to carry but may need to resurrect for future studies.