Microbiome Solutions and Germ-Free Mice

Germ-Free Rederivations

Taconic Biosciences' germ-free rederivation service lets you generate axenic cohorts of any mouse model of interest, supporting more efficient investigations into the role of the microbiome in health and disease.

These germ-free cohorts can be used to evaluate the absence of a microbiome on murine physiology, or as a substrate for highly-specific investigations of microbiota.

researcher with mouse in germ-free environment

Germ-Free Rederivation and Husbandry

Taconic's germ-free solutions enable a range of breeding plans, services, and timelines to support your research goals.

Whether you are interested in having mouse models rederived as germ-free with subsequent contract gnotobiotic husbandry for generating study cohorts or having germ-free pregnant recipient females shipped to your own gnotobiotic facility, Taconic will work with you to develop breeding plans and timelines to meet your research goals. Taconic can also perform custom microbiota associations on client's rederived germ-free models or on Taconic's commercially available germ-free mice.

Our services include:

  • Rederivation of donor animals to generate germ-free (axenic) animal models.
  • Dual isolator redundancy and weekly microbial monitoring to certify Germ-Free Health Standard.
  • IVF-generated, germ-free cohorts from ten to forty mice with the same week of birth, with tiered pricing for the number of offspring born. (Please inquire for cohorts >40 animals.)
  • Gnotobiotic husbandry to breed germ-free cohorts for study.
  • Optional custom microbiota association.
  • Transfer of germ-free pregnant recipient females to client's gnotobiotic facility.
  • Shipment of all germ-free animals in a Taconic germ-free shipper.

Germ-Free Rederivation Protocols

Taconic's custom germ-free rederivation protocols begin with donor animals from Taconic, a client's own colony, or other commercially-available mice.

Taconic employs in vitro fertilization to generate embryos for transplant into germ-free Swiss Webster pseudo-pregnant female recipients. Following embryo transfer, recipient females are transferred into germ-free isolators and give birth to germ-free offspring.

Taconic performs weekly microbial monitoring to ensure isolators are germ-free, with twelve weeks of negative reports required before an isolator holding rederived offspring is considered germ-free.

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