Preclinical Laboratory (PKL) Portal

The Preclinical Laboratory offers cryopreservation techniques and re-derivation services.

Cryopreservation

Cryopreservation, normally used in combination with In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a technique that gives you the opportunity to save your valuable strains for experiments in the near or far future. Briefly, by using one male and a group of female animals we are able to produce a large number of embryos via in vitro fertilization. After a slow freezing process these embryos will be kept in our freeze bank for your future use.

Request and health report

After we have received a request from you the most important issue regarding any import of live animals to the AKM (s) is the health report. In order to import your strains we need a health report that is not more than three months old. (You do not need a health report when the animals are transferred within AKM units at Huddinge). The animals are transferred to AKM5 when the health report has been controlled. If your animals are located within AKM facilities, the cages should be marked with the red transfer label that can be found at all our animal facilities. We also kindly ask you to fill in "The animal order and transfer form". We arrange the transfer.

Animal Order and Transfer Form

How is it done?

In order to perform the cryopreservation we need you to provide us with two to three males. They should not be less than three or more than 12 months of age. If you plan to use wild type females (e.g. C57BL/6J) we will order them for you at your expense, provided you inform us of the strain name and the supplier. If you prefer to use your own strain specific females, you should provide us with three to four week old female animals (as young as possible). For the IVF we usually use 35 females. If you prefer to use your own animals it is recommended that you provide us at least with 10-20 females for each attempt. For any IVF attempt we use one male as source of sperm. We therefore ask that you provide us with three males, which means that we can run three sets of IVF to yield enough embryos, for the same price.

The result

We usually plan to freeze at least 300-350 embryos per strain. In each cryopreservation (IVF) setting some embryos are always test thawed and cultured in an incubator as a quality control evaluation. Based on your order some embryos can also be implanted into a pseudo pregnant female to produce offspring as an extra control of the strain.

When the offspring is two to three weeks old we will contact you and provide tail biopsy for genotype analysis. If you do not need tail biopsies or the offspring please inform us in advance. We are unable to guarantee space after the offspring have reached four weeks of age.

Freeze form

Attention: No animals can be returned to their original place after transport!

Re-derivation (Decontamination)

This service, which is also called cleansing or embryo transfer, is provided for all researchers who have infected animals. Or researchers who have mice which they want to work with in our clean facilities at AKM.

Request and health report

After we have received a request from you the most important issue regarding any import of live animals to the AKM (s) is the health report. In order to import your strains we need a health report that is not more than three months old. (You do not need a health report when the animals are transferred within AKM units at Huddinge). The animals are transferred to AKM5 when the health report has been controlled. If your animals are located within AKM facilities, the cages should be marked with the red transfer label that can be found at all our animal facilities. We also kindly ask you to fill in "The animal order and transfer form". We arrange the transfer.

Animal Order and Transfer Form

How it is done

Through hormonal treatment and mating in an isolated lab we will provide you with clean offspring that allows you to transfer the animals to the clean sections of AKM5 or AKM6. In the decontamination protocol the females are super ovulated and after natural mating the oocytes are extracted. The collected oocytes are washed in several steps and implanted into a carrier female (pseudo pregnant female).

In order to produce clean embryos and subsequently clean offspring we need two to three males that are at least six weeks old. The male should be guaranteed fertile (test mated). If the male has not been previously test mated we will perform this procedure for an extra charge. If you plan to use wild type females (e.g. C57BL/6J), we will order them for you at your expense, provided you inform us of the strain name and the supplier. If you prefer to use your own strain specific females, you should provide us with three to four weeks old female animals (or as young as possible). For the decontamination process we need four to six females.

When the offspring is two to three weeks old we will contact you and provide tail biopsy for genotype analysis. If you do not need tail biopsies or the offspring please inform us in advance. We are unable to guarantee space after the offspring have reached four weeks of age.

The result

The aim of Re-derivation is to get at least one mating couple. If necessary, up to three attempts will be performed for the same price. Under normal circumstances three attempts is sufficient. When the offspring is two to three weeks we will contact you and provide tail biopsy for genotype analysis. If you do not need tail biopsies please inform us in advance. We are unable to guarantee space after the offspring have reached four weeks of age.

Decont Form

Attention: No animals can be returned to their original place after transport!

Contact

Tel: 08-58586043 eller 08-58586102

E-mail: pkl-support@labmed.ki.se

Forms

MH
Content reviewer:
04-09-2023