Knockout Resources to Conquer Human Disease
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The Texas A&M Institute for Genomic Medicine (TIGM) is a part of the Texas A&M University System as a research institute of Texas A&M AgriLife Research. TIGM utilizes advanced technologies to discover breakthroughs in science and medicine and accelerate the pace of medical discoveries. TIGM accomplishes this through internal research and collaborations with other institutions. TIGM also maintains the world's largest library of mouse knockout embryonic stem cells and provides both ES cells and mice to academic and commercial institutions around the world.

Facilities
TIGM houses unique, world-class scientific facilities on the Texas A&M main campus in College Station. The central feature of TIGM’s 34,000 square foot facility is a Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) maximum barrier (shower-in) mouse vivarium. This breeding vivarium can house more than 40,000 mice in 8,000 high density micro isolator cages. An adjoining research vivarium can house an additional 30,000 mice. In addition, TIGM houses onsite molecular biology core facilities, tissue culture facilities, laboratories for microinjection of stem cells, and cryopreservation areas for stem cells, embryos and sperm. Finally, TIGM has specialized facilities to evaluate mouse behaviors in order to discover which genes may be involved in disorders such as autism and ADHD.
Available Resources
TIGM maintains the world's largest C57BL/6N gene trap library, a knockout mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell resource that contains over 350,000 cell lines representing more than 10,000 unique genes. This library contains multiple clones for each gene to ensure the successful creation of knockout mice.

TIGM also has access to a privately held 129/SvEvBrd gene trap library. This gene trap library contains more than 270,000 sequence-tagged embryonic stem cell clones in the 129/SvEvBrd mouse strain representing mutations in over 9,000 genes. The National Institutes of Health and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have obtained rights to a subset of these lines, allowing TIGM to make them available for distribution to the academic research community on a subsidized basis.

Together, these established resources provide unparalleled coverage of the mouse genome with over 640,000 cell lines representing over 13,000 genes. TIGM provides ES cell clones and knockout mice to the international scientific community under terms and conditions similar to those for materials obtained from the Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Centers.

Publication describing our library and technology can be found here:
Genome Res. 2008 Oct;18(10):1670-9.
Delivered Resources
Since beginning its operation in 2006, TIGM has served as a major resource to the international scientific community. In that time, TIGM has delivered more than 400 mouse and ES cells orders to more than 290 academic and commercial institutions in over 20 countries. In addition, a total of over 5,750 individual investigators from more than 700 academic and research institutions and commercial entities representing 40 countries, have queried TIGM with information requests.

These resources are being used with great success and to date there are at least 25 peer-reviewed publications featuring TIGM mice or cells. For the complete list of publications please visit http://www.tigm.org/publications/.
High-Throughput ES cell Screening
With funding of $12.25 million from the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency, TIGM is developing first-in-class high-throughput screening procedures for mouse stem cells involving state-of-the-art robotic equipment and pioneering screening procedures by incorporating high content analysis techniques to screen the response of stem cells representing various cell types in the body to biological agents. Cells demonstrating enhanced survival and health will then be developed into living mice that would also be resistant to disease. Once proven in these animals, new drugs can be designed for human use that would block the agents’ access to those human genes. Researchers believe these findings will strengthen our national defense by expanding our ability to quickly and effectively protect citizens against both known and unknown biological threats, including biological warfare agents or unforeseen emerging infectious diseases.

Nat Med. 2010 Aug;16(8):835.