Donate a Strain

Step 1: Scientific Information Collection

• A scientific curator will communicate with the donating lab to gather essential scientific/technical information (e.g., allele design, genetic background, targeting sequence, PCR assay, phenotype, breeding strategy, shipping contact, legal distribution question, etc).
• We use this information to create the strain descriptions for the JAXMice website, to make our plan to best maintain/preserve it and will provide relevant details to our Genotyping group, Importation/Initiation group (see Step 2) and Technology Transfer group (see Step 3).

Step 2: Donor Sends Mice To JAX (Importation Request)

• We will notify our preferred shipper/courier partner of the expected importation. They will then contact you to make further arrangements. See the FAQ section for more details.
• We typically request 2 male mice (ideally 5-12 weeks old; max 20 weeks old). The mice you send should harbor only the desired mutation/allele. Unless specifically requested, no female mice are needed - our preferred approach is to freeze sperm from the mice you send and then recover a live colony to meet demand (see Step 4 for more details).
• We ask donating investigators to pay the costs associated with shipping these first few mice to JAX (Bar Harbor, Maine USA).
• After arrival, JAX will cover the costs of cryopreservation, storage, recovery/rederivation, quality control checks, colony development, genotyping, etc.

Step 3: Agreement for Distribution of Donated Mice

• If your institution has a mouse distribution agreement with Jackson and you wish to add this strain to the agreement, please state so in the strain submission form, otherwise it will be distributed under Jackson's General Terms and Conditions ("T&C").
• If there are any comments in the Terms of Distribution section of the scientific/technical questions (see Step 1), our Technology Transfer group will follow up with your institution.
• You may contact the Technology Transfer group with any questions regarding terms for distribution of your mouse at [email protected]
• NOTE - New strains are not listed on the JAXMice website until the distribution agreement is in place. If we use a current agreement (or the T&C) this will be resolved quickly. If there is a delay in completing a new agreement this may limit our ability to gauge strain interest/demand and may result in a strain missing its window for distribution from live colony.

Step 4: JAX Arrival, Cryopreservation, Rederivation to High-Barrier SPF Room and Distribution

• We aim to cryopreserve the mice you send and then recover/rederive a living colony into our specific-pathogen-free (SPF) mouse rooms to meet anticipated demand.
• We typically request the donating lab send us 2 young male mice. Of course, strains with several mutant alleles, unique genetic backgrounds, or complicated phenotypes may require alternate cryopreservation plans.
• Within 3-4 weeks after arrival, we freeze 20 vials of sperm pooled from the young male mice you send.
• We then thaw one vial to fertilize oocytes from our in-house stocks of female mice of the same genetic background (e.g., C57BL/6J oocytes).
• The resulting recovered/rederived mice are genotyped to confirm they retain the desired mutation/allele. Once that is confirmed, the cryo bankstock will then be considered complete (i.e., the frozen sperm is able to reanimate live mice with the desired mutation/allele). This typically takes ~5-7 months from the time of arrival.
• A live colony is developed to meet anticipated demand - based on the number of researchers who “Register Interest” and the number of preorders received. See the FAQ section for more details on registering interest.
• Mice are typically first available for distribution 7-10 months after a strain arrives.
• Live colonies are maintained on our shelves for as long as demand exists.
• Once all orders are filled and there is a period of no demand, we then remove the live strain. Recovery of live mice can subsequently be requested from our cryopreserved stocks.