Transgenic Animal Genotyping and Phenotyping Core

Under the direction of Dr. Yumei Feng Earley, Ph.D., Core B aims to establish and operate a centralized facility that provides services, advice, training and technical support for evaluating transgenic animal genotyping and cardiovascular phenotyping research. Operations of a centralized facility is to provide an infrastructure for the success of cardiovascular research and facilitate the development of novel drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Major Cardiovascular Phenotyping techniques offered by this core are continuous blood pressure, heart rate, ECG monitoring by radio telemetry system, in vivo calcium imaging & optogenetics in live free-moving mice, echocardiography, laser doppler blood flow recording.

Director and Staff

Core Director: Yumei Feng Earley, M.D., PhD. F.A.H.A , Professor
Email: yumeifeng@med.unr.edu

Genotyping Specialist: Blaine Harper, Ph.D. Research Associate II
Email: blaineh@med.unr.edu

Service and Facilities

Breeding, genotyping, and management of colonies of genetically modified mice

A centralized mouse holding and breeding space is located in the facility of Animal Resource at University of Nevada, Reno. Genotyping of tail biopsy samples and data analysis will be performed. All data on mice, including date of birth, sex, cage IDs, genotype and other information, is uploaded to the mouse management system, mLIMS (https://bioinforx.com/lims2/product_mlims.php) and will be continuously available for retrieval by investigators. Many commonly used mouse strains at a wide range of ages are maintained in the facility. New strains or tissue-specific targeting can be requested by investigators and generated at the Core on an as-needed basis.

Radio telemetry blood pressure, heart rate, ECG monitoring system

Telemetry recording suite is located in the facility of Animal Resource at University of Nevada, Reno. Two telemetry systems (Data Science International, Inc.) with the capacity to simultaneously monitor and record hemodynamic parameters (systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressure; heart rate, ECG, and locomotor activity) in up to 48 conscious, unrestrained mice. The linchpin of telemetry recording in mice is a computer-controlled receiving plate that can be positioned beneath individual cages housing mice that have been surgically implanted with radiotelemetric transmitters.

Sable Promethion Metabolic Cage System

Promethion systems capture synchronized metabolic and behavioral information, yielding a highly-resolved and uniquely rich data stream. It offers multiplexed systems with multiple cages sharing a gas analyzer chain, offering cycle times up to ten times faster than conventional systems. Systems are available for mice calorimetry experiments. Sable's modular system concept allows you to configure a system for your exact needs today, with the flexibility to expand and change the system as your research questions evolve. This system offers continuous monitoring capabilities including: Food intake monitor, Water intake monitor, Access control module, Total activity monitor, Body weight module, Gas exchange monitor: oxygen, carbon dioxide, Respiratory quiescent, Calorimetry.

Echo MRI

The EchoMRI system (EchoMRI, Houston, TX) consists of a computer table; a high-end Windows 10-based computer with a wide, high-resolution monitor; and four antenna/probes for high-precision analysis and determination of fat mass, lean mass, free-water mass, and total-body-water mass. These include a rat probe for total body masses up to 500 g, a mouse probe for whole body masses up to 100 g, a tissue probe for total masses up to 7 g, and a biopsy probe for whole organs/tissue samples with total masses up to 300 mg. This system provides a gold-standard for the non-invasive measurement of body composition in rodents and is critical for labs examining cardiovascular and metabolic diseases that contribute to changes in adiposity, such as cardiovascular disease, muscular dystrophy, and gut inflammation.

Vivo 3100 Echocardiography System

The EchoMRI system (EchoMRI, Houston, TX) consists of a computer table; a high-end Windows 10-based computer with a wide, high-resolution monitor; and four antenna/probes for high-precision analysis and determination of fat mass, lean mass, free-water mass, and total-body-water mass. These include a rat probe for total body masses up to 500 g, a mouse probe for whole body masses up to 100 g, a tissue probe for total masses up to 7 g, and a biopsy probe for whole organs/tissue samples with total masses up to 300 mg. This system provides a gold-standard for the non-invasive measurement of body composition in rodents and is critical for labs examining cardiovascular and metabolic diseases that contribute to changes in adiposity, such as cardiovascular disease, muscular dystrophy, and gut inflammation.

Citation

For project leaders, project leader mentors, any personnel funded by COBRE: This publication [or presentation or poster] was made possible by a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P20GM130459) from the National Institutes of Health.
Research reported in this publication utilized the Transgenic Animal Genotyping and Phenotyping Core and the High Spatial and Temporal Imaging Core facilities of the University of Nevada, Reno, supported by the National Institute of Neural Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (P20GM130459 Sub#5451 and P20GM130459 Sub#5452).

For Core users who are not funded by COBRE directly: Research reported in this publication utilized the Transgenic Animal Genotyping and Phenotyping Core and the High Spatial and Temporal Imaging Core facilities of the University of Nevada, Reno, supported by the National Institute of Neural Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (P20GM130459 Sub#5451 and P20GM130459 Sub#5452).