Phenotyping

The MBP provides investigators with a full range of morphological, metabolic, organismal, behavioral, and pathological assays that can be fully customized to characterize mutant mouse models as adults and embryos. You can send mice to us for phenotyping that were created in your laboratory or were made by or obtained from other laboratories or institutions. Alternatively, you can select mice from the on-line catalogs of mutant mouse models here in our Mutant Mouse Resource and Research Center (MMRRC) and our Knockout Mouse Project (KOMP) Repository for phenotyping at MBP. Or, if the mutant mouse model doesn’t exist yet, the MBP can make and phenotype it for you. Any allele, any genetic background, any condition (e.g., high fat diet), the MBP is your one-stop-shop for all your mouse phenotyping needs. You have 24/7/365 access to all of your data, images and project-related documents uploaded directly to your personal project page in our online and secure project tracking system (PTS).

The MBP Phenotyping Center has been in operation since 2001. We operate in a newly remodeled 1130 sq. ft. laboratory within the MBP facility. There are eleven separate testing rooms, adjacent animal housing, and an office/scheduling area.

Mice housed and raised for phenotyping are maintained in a dedicated mouse housing room (capacity=700) in the MBP. This room is immediately adjacent to the MBP Phenotyping Center. Polycarbonate caging is mounted in OPTI-mouse carousel cage racks with negative pressure ventilation of individual cages. Professional veterinary services are provided by the MBP Vivarium and Animal Health Division.

Learn How To Ship Your Mouse Models To The MBP For Phenotyping

Experienced vivarium and veterinary care staff will assist you with the transfer and importation of your mice or tissue samples to our facility for testing. If the health status of the exporting facility does not permit direct importation of mice to our conventional facility, we can re-derive your line into our SPF barrier facility and breed up a colony for testing. We will also coordinate the purchase and importation of any vendor mice required for your tests.

Learn More About Phenotyping Behavior

Genetically-altered mutant mice created using transgenic and gene-targeting approaches may develop significant behavioral abnormalities solely as a result of their induced mutation. MBP has a full service behavioral core facility dedicated to assisting research scientists in characterizing their mouse models.

Several standardized behavioral tests are available for “high-throughput” screening of mutants to quickly and efficiently detect abnormalities in memory, motivation, learning, cognitive, motor and sensory abilities. Once defined using a primary screening approach, abnormalities can then be fully characterized by applying secondary and tertiary examinations.

Our standardized behavioral tests are all pre-approved by UC Davis IACUC and we will apply for any modifications to this if required by your experiment.

We offer a variety of tests to measure Emotion and Motivation, Sensory abilities, Motor coordination as well as Learning and Memory. Services we offer include those listed below.

  1. General Screening
    • Function Observation Battery
    • Ataxia
    • Metabolic phenotyping
    • Open Field
  2. Motor Coordination
    • Rota-Rod
    • Grip Strength
  3. Anxiety
    • Elevated Plus Maze
    • Fear Conditioning
    • Startle PPI
  4. Social Behavior
    • Social Dyadic Interaction
    • Resident/Intruder
    • Nesting behavior
  5. Cognition
    • Morris Water Maze
    • Radial Arm Water Maze
    • Novelty Preference
    • Hole Board
    • Passive Avoidance
  6. Sensory
    • Startle/Sensorimotor Gaiting

Computational, interpretative, and consulting services are all available upon request.

Please contact us at mbp@ucdavis.edu and we will customize our services to meet your project needs.