The Abb mouse was developed in the laboratory of Michael J. Grusby et al. of the Harvard School of Public Health. The model was created by targeting the H2-Ab1 gene in ES-D3 cells and injecting the targeted ES cells into C57BL/6 blastocysts. Resultant chimeras were backcrossed to C57BL/6 for 7 generations (N7), then backcrossed four generations (N4) to B6.SJL- Ptprc^a. NIAID received stock in 1994, and Taconic received stock in 1995 for the NIAID Transgenic Mouse Repository. The mice were then derived via backcross to B6.SJL-Ptprc^a. The mice were backcrossed once more to B6.SJL-Ptprc^a (N5), then intercrossed to homozygosity for both Abb and Ptprc^a. The mice were derived by embryo transfer again in 1997 (N6). The line was maintained by incrossing homozygous mice.