The experimental animals are the unsung heroes that continue to play a vital role in unraveling the complex issues of pathogenesis and treatment of human diseases. They are also valuable tools for advancing biotechnology research. Laboratory mice with fast reproduction rate, and consistent and stable genetic backgrounds have become the vanguard of biomedical research. In recent years, genetic engineering of mice has made quantum leap forward in creating genetically modified (GM) mice. These GM mice have been used to model human diabetes, colorectal cancer, liver cancer, muscular dystrophy, etc. for drug discovery, giving the hope of potential cures.
The importance of mouse models in past advances in biomedicine and the critical role that models will play in the next 5-10 years of biomedical research have caused demands skyrocketed for a diversity of special strains of genetically identical mice be used to assure that results can be repeated in any laboratory and that differences are not due to environmental factors or to random variation. And this requisite forces impROVed acquisition, maintenance, propagation, preservation, and global sharing and exchange of mouse resources imperative so to achieve maximum research impacts with minimum inputs under the principles of replacement, reduction and refinement in animal experiments.
As far as the preservation of mouse resources is conceed, the cryopreservation pROVides an efficient management of these genetic resources by reducing maintenance space and cost, by safeguarding them against disease, breeding failure, genetic drift, natural disasters, etc., and by simplifying the shipment of animals. And when cryopreservation is coupled with embryo rederivation, which is to eliminate pathogens, the combined methods are the safest technique to obtain and preserve healthy mice strains.
In 2008, the NARL‘s National Laboratories Animal Center (NLAC) has established the Rodent Model Resource Center (RMRC) to pROVide a variety of services including cryopreservation, preservation and purification, data mining, etc. of mouse resources for the advancement of biomedical research and the development of biotechnology industry in Taiwan. During 2009, there were a total of 60 cases of repository exchange, 90 cases of the mouse cryopreservation, 30 cases of rederivation, and 12 cases of restoration at the RMRC.
To globalize the use of, and sharing among, mouse resource centers across national boundaries, the Federation of International Mouse Resources (FIMRe) was established in 2005. This federation is a collaborating group of mouse repository and resource centers worldwide whose collective goal is to archive and pROVide strains of mice as cryopreserved embryos and gametes, embryonic stem cell lines, and live breeding stock to the research community. The endeavor of the FIMRe is later augmented by the formation of the International Mouse Strain Resource (IMSR), which is a searchable online database of mouse strains and stocks available worldwide. The IMSR, funded by the National Library of Medicine of the US National Institutes of Health, is to assist the international scientific community in locating and obtaining mouse resources for research. Up to now, the IMSR maintains nearly 20,000 entries of data on various mouse strains, including inbred, mutant, and GM mice; and cryopreserved embryos, eggs, sperms, and embryonic stem cell lines.
On October 13, 2010, the NARL-NLAC’s RMRC joined with other 19 contributing repositories to participate in the IMSR. Upon its participation, the nearly 50 GM mice strains that have been created by the Taiwan scientists and preserved in the RMRC will be published on the IMSR’s website. This participation will boost the global use of Taiwan GM mice strains; and for the Taiwan scientists, it facilitates the access to the global database and mouse resources, and the establishment of international collaborative biomedical research.
