Rederivation can eliminate adventitious organisms such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites in your mice and rats that can significantly compromise the results of your research. Charles River's rederivation service removes these unwanted pathogens from your mouse and rat colonies. We currently offer three unique rederivation options, Standard Rederivation, Rapid Rederivation, and IVF Rapid Expansion, all of which take advantage of our decades of experience producing high-quality, clean animals. Regardless of which option you choose, all of your newly rederived VAF/EliteTM animals are maintained in the biosecurity of an isolator environment to protect the health of the colony.
- Standard Rederivation – this service guarantees to return at least three rederived breeding pairs of VAF/EliteTM health status. If more than three pairs are available, they will be provided to you at no additional charge. Included in the service is a comprehensive health monitoring (serology, bacteriology, parasitology, and pathology) screen to confirm the success of the rederivation procedure. The original, contaminated colony is maintained until live offspring are delivered to your facility. Rederived animals are typically delivered to you 12 weeks after the original, contaminated colony arrives at Charles River.
- Rapid Rederivation – this service guarantees to return at least two visibly pregnant females (approximately 14 days pregnant on delivery) to your facility. No health testing is included in this service. The original, contaminated colony is maintained until the females litter at your facility. The pregnant females are typically delivered to you five weeks after the original animals arrive at Charles River.
- IVF Rapid Expansion – our rapid expansion service can return a large bolus (hundreds if required) of animals to help you get your colony established faster. Comprehensive health monitoring (serology, bacteriology, parasitology, and pathology) screens to confirm the success of the rederivation procedure. Animals born from this program are typically available 15 weeks after the original colony arrives at Charles River.
In conjunction with rederivation, it is often advisable to cryopreserve embryos and/or sperm to provide a backup in the case of a future colony loss. We offer several affordable packages in conjunction with rederivation to cryopreserve germ plasm.
- Our cryopreserve package freezes down ~100 embryos and includes one year of liquid nitrogen storage in two of our independent freezer facilities.
- Our sperm cryopreservation service freezes down the sperm from two males in approximately 20 straws.
Both of these services provide an effective means to quickly recover the colony in the event of future catastrophe.
Animal requirements for mouse rederivation are at least two proven breeder males, less than six months of age, and 10 -15 females, three to four weeks of age. Many of our clients choose to purchase commercially available, wildtype females to use as embryo donors. Rat rederivations require at least four proven breeder males, less than six months of age, and 10-15 females, 10-12 weeks of age. Note that if the cryopreserve package is included in your rederivation, additional females may be required. If you are unable to meet our animal requirements, we also offer isolator-based breeding to expand your line prior to rederivation.
