Archiving and Distribution

The MRC Harwell Archive aims to promote a cooperative future in mouse genetics research through the archiving and distribution of mouse lines to safeguard germplasm collected from unique strains and make it readily available to the scientific community.

A free archiving service making mouse strains available to the community

Cryopreservation of either sperm or embryos not only protects your valuable mouse strains for future use, but also enables you to reduce costs associated with ongoing colony maintenance.

We offer a free archiving service to all users providing the mouse strains are made available to the community, without restriction. Our export team are experienced in transporting mice and germplasm to laboratories around the world. We are able to distribute sperm, embryos, and/or mice, depending on the researcher’s requirements, although we have a strong preference for distributing frozen materials. All our mice are specific pathogen free, having been screened in accordance with the Federation of Laboratory Animal Science Associations (FELASA) guidelines. Additional tests for other pathogens can be performed upon request.

The Archive acts as the UK node for the European Mouse Mutant Archive (EMMA) operated by the INFRAFRONTIER research infrastructure, in which MRC Harwell is a long-term partner. The Archive is accessible to the biomedical science community worldwide and holds over 3000 unique mouse strains. If you would like to submit a mouse line for archiving, please complete our contact form. Alternatively, to request a mouse line for research, please search the Archive.

Vist the National Mouse Archive

FAQs

  • What are the benefits to me?

    There are many direct benefits of using the Archive. Each mouse strain is securely archived by a team of highly trained staff that use the most up-to-date technologies. The Archive implements full quality control of the material it freezes, so you know that the strain has been safely archived. The Archive will take care of all the logistics associated with disseminating the mice.

  • How much does it costs to archive a mouse line?

    The Harwell Archive is able to provide a free of charge archiving service for all material accepted by EMMA, excluding shipping costs. Recent innovations in the handling and shipping of epididymides allow us to accept unfrozen epididymides as an alternative to shipping live mice prior to sperm archiving. This improves animal welfare and drastically reduces the shipping costs. Contact us for more information about epididymis dissections.

  • Does the Archive make a profit archiving my mouse strains?

    No, the Harwell Archive is a non-profit entity operating on a cost recovery basis. The charges it levies for the dissemination of frozen materials or rederived live mice go towards maintaining the repository and financing the free archiving service for future generations of scientists.

  • Does the Archive make a profit archiving my mouse strains?

    No, the Harwell Archive is a non-profit entity operating on a cost recovery basis. The charges it levies for the dissemination of frozen materials or rederived live mice go towards maintaining the repository and financing the free archiving service for future generations of scientists.

  • Who will be able to access my mouse strains?

    Strains are made publicly available to scientists around the world, but the beneficial rights of the producer are protected by a Material Transfer Agreement that all clients have to sign before a strain is released from the Archive.

    A two year grace period is available to depositors who wish to safeguard their mice, but have yet to publish their data. During this period, the mice will be archived free of charge, but they will not be made available to the community.

  • Will for-profit organisations have access to my mouse strains?

    All distribution enquiries from for-profit organisations will be forwarded to the depositor for subsequent contract negotiations. The mice will only be released once permission has been granted by the depositor.

  • Will I be recognised for my work in producing these lines?

    We actively promote the acknowledgement of our depositors by ensuring the institute and the primary publications are clearly displayed on our website. We also work to protect your IP by exchanging an appropriate Material Transfer Agreement when your mice are distributed to members of the scientific community.

    Depositing biological resources in public archives is increasingly being recognised as an important project deliverable for many funding agencies and is being actively encouraged. Details of every strain held in the Archive are presented on the IMSR, EMMA, and MRC Harwell websites, which increases uptake by the community and the citation rate of primary references.

  • Will I have to spend lots of time breeding mice to send to the Archive?

    Whenever possible, the Archive will freeze strains as sperm or IVF-derived embryos. These procedures require no more than 5 mature males. However, additional breeding may be required to freeze strains carrying complex genetics. In these circumstances, if the depositor is unable to provide a sufficient number of embryo donors, the Archive may take on the responsibility of the additional breeding on their behalf.

  • My project license is coming to an end. How long does the archiving process take?

    This is a popular service and we cannot guarantee that we will be able to accept every strain at short notice, so it is advisable to plan ahead. Please be aware that a depositor’s Material Transfer Agreement needs to be signed before the mice are sent to MRC Harwell. Once we have received the mice, it will take approximately three months to fully archive a strain and perform all the necessary quality control tests.

  • What happens if I want to retrieve one of my mouse strains?

    The Archive treats all requests in the same way, even those from the original depositor, so you would be asked to pay the normal charges and may be asked to sign a Material Transfer Agreement, if you have moved to a new institution.

  • Will my mouse strains be secure in your facility?

    The majority of lines can be cryopreserved as spermatozoa. A line is considered fully archived when 3 to 5 mature males (30 to 50 sperm samples) are cryopreserved. If your strain is an inbred line or has a complex genetic background, we would freeze embryos. Typically this requires approximately 20 young females and 2 mature males. Mouse strains that we freeze as embryos will be considered fully archived when 250 to 300 two-cell embryos have been cryopreserved.

    Cryopreserved sperm and embryos are viability tested ensuring each mouse strain can be resurrected when required. We also split our archived samples between different buildings to minimise the risk of physical damage, e.g. through fire or flooding.

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