ExpressMODEL® Random Integration Transgenic Service

Custom model generation through pronuclear injection (PNI) to create random integration transgenics continues to be a favored path to quickly generate models that express an ectopic gene and pass the trait onto their offspring. However, as genomic integration sites and copy number of the transgene are random events in every injected embryo, each resulting founder is unique. Therefore, the common practice is to propagate each founder separately, and generate offspring that undergo extensive transgene expression analyses. These data are then used to determine the founder lines that are most suited for the study program. The cost and time invested in downstream breeding and characterization of multiple RITg lines can heavily outweigh the original cost to generate the model.

In the ExpressMODEL® RITg service, transgene analyses are performed  in the founder animals, taking guesswork out of the process and allowing you to avoid the cost of breeding and characterizing multiple founder lines. Moreover, it reduces project timeline by at least 12 weeks and potentially up to 24 weeks or more. In addition, if the founder analyses reveal that none of the founders are suitable for studies, you can decide early on in the project to perform additional injections and generate more founders, thereby mitigating the risk of major program delays, while reducing overall costs. Therefore, the ExpressMODEL® RITg Service accelerates the timeline to results and mitigates the risks inherent to random integration transgenic model generation, both in terms of project timeline and budget.

Importantly, founder animals produced within an RITg project can be mosaic, and this should be considered during the analysis phase as it has the potential to complicate results and the downstream decision process if encountered.