RENSSELAER, N.Y., April 2 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Taconic Biosciences, a global leader in providing genetically engineered rodent model solutions, announces it has obtained a license to the Wild Mouse gut microbiome from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Investigators at the NIDDK studied wild mice gut microbiota, finding it differs dramatically from that of laboratory mice. Taconic’s germ-free mice were used in the study, which was featured in the journal Cell (https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(17)31065-6). For research applications, the Wild Mouse gut microbiota can be banked for future use and/or maintained in a laboratory mouse breeding colony for immediate research purposes. When transferred into laboratory mice, the microbiota promote host fitness, as seen in increased resistance to viral infection and tumorigenesis models. Taconic licensed the Wild Mouse gut microbiota from NIDDK as a complement to its existing microbiome solutions portfolio, which includes germ-free mice and custom microbiota associations. The role of the microbiome in drug discovery research is to clarify the impact of varying microbiomes on the efficacy of potential therapeutics and also to potentially identify new drug targets. By having a defined microbiome standard via the NIDDK Wild Mouse gut microbiome, customers now have a basis for comparison to better understand the microbiome of their research models.
