Hi fellow ABRF members,
I am the director of an animal model-focused pathology core laboratory at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. I'd like to extend an open invite to all interested parties for the animal cores-focused session that I am chairing at the upcoming ABRF meeting in Las Vegas.
The session is titled "Wild Kingdom: the scope and diversity of animal phenotyping core facilities" and will be held on Monday March 24 from 2:45-4:00 (Bronze 2)
The abstract for the session is copied below. Speakers will be Dr. Kent Lloyd, DVM, PhD from the University of California-Davis, who will be speaking about large-scale mouse phenotyping consortia, and Dr. Eugene Chen, MD, PhD from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, who will be speaking about his unique transgenic rabbit core as an example of non-rodent animal models. The purpose of this session is to discuss the unique challenges of animal phenotyping and familiarize attendees with large-scale phenotyping initiatives that may impact or involve many of their own core facility clients. Challenges involved in this work include limited reagent availability, the need for cross-species assay validation, and the need for interdisciplinary expertise when interpreting unexpected phenotypes. This session will have items of interest for attendees both directly and indirectly involved in animal-related work. We hope that it will also kick off active and collaborative future discussions within the ABRF community of the work being done in animal-related cores.
Please consider joining us on Monday March 24 at 2:45. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Ingrid
Wild Kingdom: the scope and diversity of animal phenotyping core facilities
Monday March 24, 2025 2:45-4:00 Bronze 2
>>This speaker panel and discussion session will provide an overview of animal phenotyping core facilities. Animal phenotyping broadly refers to the descriptive or interpretive characterization of animal models, usually animal models of human disease. Phenotyping means different things in different contexts and core facilities offering these services are quite diverse. Examples include behavioral, physiologic, or metabolic phenotyping cores and animal tissue or molecular histopathology facilities. While mice are typically a major focus, phenotyping strategies have also been applied to other species. Challenges faced by staff and users of these facilities include reagent and methods challenges inherent to the diverse species and the need for broadly ranging expertise to address different aspects of phenotyping. In this session, Dr. Kent Lloyd, the director of the University of California-Davis Mouse Biology Program, will give an overview of the NIH-sponsored Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Centers (MMPC-Live) and the Knockout Mouse Project (KOMP2), two large scale murine phenotyping efforts. Additionally, Dr. Yuqing Eugene Chen, director of the Center for Advanced Models For Translational Sciences and Therapeutics (CAMTraST) at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor will describe the transgenic rabbit models generated by CAMTraST as examples of non-murine animal models. A panel discussion will also describe best practices for facilitating cross-disciplinary or cross-core collaborations in the context of animal models. Attendees will gain greater understanding of the diversity and scope of animal phenotyping, will increase their knowledge of how phenotyping data might complement the work of their own core facilities, and will acquire resources for future consultation, referral, and collaboration.<<
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Ingrid Bergin, VMD, MS, DACLAM, DACVP
Professor, Unit for Laboratory Animal Medicine
Program Director, ULAM Pathology Core, RRID:SCR_018823
University of Michigan -Ann Arbor
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