Penn Gnotobiotic Mouse Core

Some 100 trillion beneficial microorganisms populate the human body, inside and out. Various species are healthy and aid in processes such as digestion and strengthening the immune system; however, what would happen if humans did not have this symbiotic relationship with commensal bacteria? The University of Pennsylvania launched the Penn Gnotobiotic Mouse Facility (PGMF) to aid new research in this area and provide investigators with germ-free animal models to further their research.

Gnotobiotic mice, including germ-free mice, are born in aseptic conditions, where all incoming air, food, and water have been sterilized. This enables research with animal models in which the only strains or species of microorganisms living within them are known and accounted for.

The PGMF is live and actively providing centralized germ-free and gnotobiotic mouse services that include access to small experimental isolators for a variety of in vivo studies utilizing germ-free mice. The PGMF maintains several common strains of germ-free mice, such as C57BL6, and RAG knockout mice. These strains are available immediately upon request. Additionally, the Core is developing a method to provide re-derivation services for generating customized germ-free and gnotobiotic mouse strains, as well as the generation of bone marrow chimeras in the near future.

The PGMF offers technical support to investigators and is located at the Hill Pavilion on the Penn campus. For more information please contact penngf [at] mail.med.upenn.edu (penngf[at]mail[dot]med[dot]upenn[dot]edu).