The Jackson Laboratory, a non-profit institution for mouse genetics and breeding, has informed UC Davis administrators that it will not be moving forward with a planned shared mouse breeding facility on campus.
UC Davis administrators said the campus remains committed to leadership in the use of mice as powerful tools in biological research and to supporting researchers at UC Davis and other institutions in breeding and maintaining genetically-standardized mice.
The campus is evaluating options for expanded mouse rearing facilities, said Phyllis Wise, dean of the Division of Biological Sciences, who oversees the collaboration and the mouse biology program.
Jackson Laboratory Director Rick Woychik said, “Our institution is expanding rapidly, including a major research expansion that is now under way. Following an exhaustive strategic planning process, which I initiated when I came to the Laboratory 13 months ago, we discovered that we had adequate production capacity at our Bar Harbor, Maine, campus for our near-to-midterm needs.”
“While this means we will not be working in partnership to build a vivarium, I have great interest in establishing scientific collaborations with UC Davis,” Woychik said.
In 1999, UC Davis and The Jackson Laboratory announced a collaborative program in mouse breeding and genetics.
Stephen Barthold, director of the UC Davis Mouse Biology Program, acknowledged the role of The Jackson Laboratory in establishing the campus program.
“When we started, it gave us immediate recognition. Our program has continued to evolve since then,” he said.
The UC Davis program now maintains over 15,000 mutant mouse strains as either live mice, frozen embryos, germplasm, or embryonic stem cells, the largest NIH-supported collection in the nation available for distribution to other researchers. The program has established international collaborations with the European Mouse Mutant Archive near Rome, Italy and the University of Sydney Mouse Biology Program in Sydney, Australia.
Campus researchers in areas such as cancer, neuroscience, genomics and infectious diseases use the program’s expertise in creating and breeding genetically standardized mice.
“We’ve clearly benefited from working closely with Jackson Laboratory over the last four years, but we understand their need to adjust their priorities with their changing institutional strategy,” Wise said. “Our campus mouse biology program is thriving, and is helping to keep researchers at the leading edge of science.”
Campus researchers will continue to collaborate with The Jackson Laboratory scientists on different projects as opportunities arise, Wise said.
The Jackson Laboratory will withdraw from laboratory and breeding space it currently shares with the mouse biology program in buildings south of I-80. The space will be taken over by the campus program, Barthold said.
The Jackson Laboratory has also established its own facility in West Sacramento, which will continue to operate as a breeding and distribution center for West Coast users. “The Laboratory is committed to supporting UC Davis’ needs for JAX Mice and related services from its West Sacramento facility,” Woychik said.