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Terrestrials

The Terrestrials team supports Stowers research programs that include the study of animal models to better understand biological processes of health and disease.

Overview of Services

Research Services

The Terrestrials provides the Institute’s research staff with AAALAC-accredited laboratory animal care and support services using state-of-the-art equipment, advanced technology, and a progressive staff in a premier animal facility. The Terrestrials team is responsible for maintaining the health and welfare of the mammalian species involved in research studies at the Institute, mice and rats.

The facility is designed to maintain animal projects under rigorous barrier conditions with every effort made to limit the introduction of undesirable pathogens that may impact the integrity and reproducibility of the research data. The facility is fully accredited with AAALAC International and all housing, husbandry practices, and veterinary care for the animals are in compliance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, as well as all other institutional, state, and local regulations.

Technology

  • Vevo 2100 Ultrasound Imaging System
  • GC-40 Cesium Irradiator
  • Bioquell L-2, L-4 and Z series Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor Generators
  • Edstrom Watchdog Monitoring System

Lab Animal Services’ Teams

The Terrestrials facility, a core services unit, is responsible for care and maintenance of rodents at the Stowers Institute. The Terrestrials team provides research staff training and support in the use of laboratory mice by maintaining exemplary standards and effective resource management from our four dedicated teams in the areas of husbandry, technical services, core breeding and importation.

Husbandry

An extensively trained, well-educated staff provides the highest level of animal husbandry and care that includes the daily feeding, health observation, and veterinary care of each animal to enhance the research, education, and life sciences at the Stowers Institute.

Technical services

Proficient, highly skilled technicians are designated to each investigative team to assist the lab and its members with a wide range of procedures often used in animal studies. These technicians have the responsibility for the efficient management of the lab’s animal colony, allowing the lab members to devote more time to their work at the bench.

Core Colony

The core breeding colonies at the Stowers Institute were created to provide a unique situation where commonly used mouse stocks and strains could be made readily available at a reduced cost to our research teams. Maintaining in-house breeding colonies allows our research staff access to clean, healthy mice at the optimal age, gender and/or weight for their research projects and other core services.

Importation Facility

The importation facility allows Stowers’ researchers the ability to ship and receive mice from nearly anywhere around the world. With a designated staff assignment and separate environments, mice with known or unknown pathogen statuses can be imported, quarantined and rederived to a pathogen-free status for research.

Featured Publications

CRISPR-Cas13d Induces Efficient mRNA Knockdown in Animal Embryos

Kushawah G, Hernandez-Huertas L, Abugattas-Nunez Del Prado J, Martinez-Morales JR, DeVore ML, Hassan H, Moreno-Sanchez I, Tomas-Gallardo L, Diaz-Moscoso A, Monges DE, Guelfo JR, Theune WC, Brannan EO, Wang W, Corbin TJ, Moran AM, Sanchez Alvarado A, Malaga-Trillo E, Takacs CM, Bazzini AA, Moreno-Mateos MA.  Dev Cell. 2020;54:805-817 e807.

N-Cadherin-Expressing Bone and Marrow Stromal Progenitor Cells Maintain Reserve Hematopoietic Stem Cells

Zhao M, Tao F, Venkatraman A, Li Z, Smith SE, Unruh J, Chen S, Ward C, Qian P, Perry JM, Marshall H, Wang J, He XC, Li L. Cell Rep. 2019;26:652-669 e656.

Retinoid-Sensitive Epigenetic Regulation of the Hoxb Cluster Maintains Normal Hematopoiesis and Inhibits Leukemogenesis

Qian P, De Kumar B, He XC, Nolte C, Gogol M, Ahn Y, Chen S, Li Z, Xu H, Perry JM, Hu D, Tao F, Zhao M, Han Y, Hall K, Peak A, Paulson A, Zhao C, Venkatraman A, Box A, Perera A, Haug JS, Parmely T, Li H, Krumlauf R, Li L. Cell Stem Cell. 2018;22:740-754 e747.

Suppression of m(6)A reader Ythdf2 promotes hematopoietic stem cell expansion

Li Z, Qian P, Shao W, Shi H, He XC, Gogol M, Yu Z, Wang Y, Qi M, Zhu Y, Perry JM, Zhang K, Tao F, Zhou K, Hu D, Han Y, Zhao C, Alexander R, Xu H, Chen S, Peak A, Hall K, Peterson M, Perera A, Haug JS, Parmely T, Li H, Shen B, Zeitlinger J, He C, Li L. Cell Res. 2018. Author Correction: Cell Res 2018:1-14. doi.org/10.1038/s41422-018-0072-0. Published online July 2018.;28:904-917.

Rdh10 loss-of-function and perturbed retinoid signaling underlies the etiology of choanal atresia

Kurosaka H, Wang Q, Sandell L, Yamashiro T, Trainor PA. Rdh10 loss-of-function and perturbed retinoid signaling underlies the etiology of choanal atresia. Hum Mol Genet. 2017;26:1268-1279

Mef2c-F10N enhancer driven beta-galactosidase (LacZ) and Cre recombinase mice facilitate analyses of gene function and lineage fate in neural crest cells.

Aoto K, Sandell LL, Butler Tjaden NE, Yuen KC, Watt KE, Black BL, Durnin M, Trainor PA. Dev Biol. 2015;402:3-16.

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