Axenic Service by MLC at MRC Harwell

Axenice Service

by MLC

Service Description:

The Axenic Service at the Mary Lyon Centre at MRC Harwell includes axenisation of mouse strains starting from live animals (minimum of 10 females and 5 males), frozen embryos or sperm (minimum of 40 embryos or 2 straws of sperm) and the exportation of germ-free mice within purpose-made shippers. The facility can also supply researchers with organs, tissues, and biofluids harvested from germ-free mice. There is also some capacity to provide extended breeding services under germ-free conditions, enabling the user to set up experiments on site and take advantage of other services such as in vivo imaging, histology, flow cytometry, and microscopy. The MLC also offers gnotobiotic services. The facility hosts a bioexclusion caging solution that allows the study of the microbiome in airtight, positive pressure cages.

Additional Support:

Axenisation of mouse strains
Extended breeding services under germ-free conditions
The axenic platform can host clients that wish to perform on site experiments, e.g., in vivo imaging, histology, flow-cytometry, microscopy, phenotyping
Support researchers with access to organs, tissues and biofluids from germ-free mice, and quick access to mice that are kept under germ-free conditions
Gnotobiotic studies in bioexclusion caging system
Logistics support and advice on shipping rederived germ-free mice to their facilities can be provided. Dedicated shippers will be provided for transportation and specialised courier services will be recommended

How to apply for the INFRAFRONTIER Axenic Service?

Please click the button below to fill out our Service Request Form or Pbagnpg hf if you have any questions.

If you have a preferred service provider, please indicate it in the form.

Request Our Service Here

Get to know the provider:

The Axenic Facility is part of the core animal facility of the Mary Lyon Centre at MRC-Harwell (MLC). The axenic facility has been established to provide a wide-ranging breeding and experimental capability. Axenic colonies are maintained in rigid wall isolators fitted with the Double Door Rapid Transfer Port (DPTE®) system developed by La Calhene. These DTPE ports ensure a bio-secure, and user-friendly connecting system for introducing and removing equipment and other materials to and from sterile isolators. The germ-free isolators are complemented by a bioexclusion caging solution for gnotobiology. Like other resources at the MLC, the axenic facility is available to the wider scientific community, in the UK and abroad.

About the Mary Lyon Centre

The MLC’s mouse facility is split between a dedicated quarantine suite for receiving imported mouse strains and an SPF barrier facility which also houses the germ-free facility. The MLC can house up to 55,000 mice and is familiar with the demands of maintaining several hundred mouse strains at any one time. All mice are bred for dedicated biomedical research projects established in association with internal and external scientists. The projects hosted at the MLC cover a wide range of topics including, but not limited to, cancer research, aging research, neurological disorders, microbiome studies. Beside the breeding and maintenance of mouse strains, the MLC offers an expertise in mouse model generation, genotyping, pathology including clinical chemistry and histology, confocal microscopy, micro-CT, in vivo imaging and complex phenotyping including metabolic analyses, psychological and behavioural studies.

Learn more about MLC here.

Relevant Publications

no available