UIC Gnotobiotic Mouse Facility

About Us

• UIC Gnotobiotic Mouse Facility (UGMF) is located at the Molecular Biology Research Building (MBRB), UIC medical campus. The UGMF suite consists of a germfree breeding laboratory and a gnotobiotic experimental laboratory and contains 6 Park Bioservices germ-free large isolators (each housing up to 16 mouse cages), 15 mini isolators (each housing up to 6 cages), 2 biosafety cabinets, 2 spray atomizers and compressors, two refrigerators, one incubator, and an in-house autoclave system.
  • The germfree breeding laboratory  has a total of 6 large isolators. The mice in germfree breeding laboratory are germ-free (i.e., born and raised in absence of live microbes).
  • The gnotobiotic experimental laboratory is available to investigators for designed studies. It has a total of 15 isolators with a maximum of 6 cages per isolator.

Mission Statement

To support basic and translational research in microbiome at UIC. We will also support collaboration between UIC, VA,  and other area institutions (e.g. Northwestern University, U of C, Rush University, and Loyola University).

Investigators will use this resource to examine physiologic and pathophysiologic differences in germ-free, gnotobiotic, and specific pathogen-free colonized mice of various genetic backgrounds.

Investigators can precisely manipulate the microbiota by selectively colonizing germ-free rodents with single or multiple commensal or pathogenic bacterial or fungal species, using isogenic wild type or genetically engineered bacterial strains. Such studies help to define the physiologic and pathophysiologic relevance of bacteria in human diseases (e.g. allergy, cancer, chronic inflammation, infection, obesity, and neurodegenerative diseases).

Advisory Committee

Susan Ross, Professor  srross@uic.edu
Nancy Freitag, Professor nfreitag@uic.edu
Ece Mutlu, Professor  emutlu@uic.edu
Teruyuki Sano, Assistant professor tsano1@uic.edu
Jun Sun, Professor junsun7@uic.edu

Services

1. Breed and maintain germ-free mice
2. Transfer new mouse strains into the facility
3. Humanized gnotobiotic mice
4. Consultation for study development and experimental design

Resources