Enabling Research
In the Comparative Medicine shared resource, our teams of technicians, veterinarians, pathologists and operations specialists offer comprehensive, high quality and compassionate services. We offer our time- and cost-effective services to both Fred Hutch and external users.
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Comparative Medicine Services | Comparative Pathology Services
Schedule With Us
To schedule services with the Comparative Medicine shared resource, or to get more information about how we can work with you, visit our rates and scheduling page or send a message to the primary contact for the relevant service area, below.
Comparative Medicine Services
For more information about the comparative medicine services we offer, contact Dr. Marian Esvelt, Comparative Medicine Director.
Our staff provides high-quality husbandry and veterinary care daily. We offer a wide variety of additional services, including colony management, basic experimental procedure support, and monitoring. Our facility has dedicated surgery and procedure rooms.
We support the development and maintenance of preclinical mouse models, including mice bearing a humanized immune system, and we provide technical services including injections and implants via multiple routes, irradiation, sample collections, bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging, and surgical procedures. We can perform individual technical services or complete an entire in vivo experiment. For more information about our specialized mouse services, contact Marian Esvelt.
We can conduct a wide array of individual technical services for translational studies, including, but not limited to, the following:
Humanized Mice
We currently offer humanized mouse models — mice engrafted with human peripheral blood lymphocytes, human bone marrow or human hematopoietic CD34+ cells. Human bone marrow or CD34+ cells can be engrafted into either adult or neonatal mice.
Our basic analysis of human engraftment involves staining peripheral blood samples with a mixture of antibodies specific for mouse CD45, human CD45 (all human hematopoietic cells), human CD33 (myeloid cells), CD14 (monocytes, macrophages), CD19 (B cells) and CD3 (T cells). We can include additional antibodies where necessary and at users’ request. Our analysis can be longitudinal or at a discrete time point to determine success prior to downstream experiments.
Mouse Experiments and Study Support
We can complete entire preclinical studies: grafting cells or tumors for study, to drug administration and downstream sample collection and analysis. We provide regular updates, including spreadsheets with data specific to the study. Contact us to discuss your needs and we will provide a customized study plan and cost estimate.
Fred Hutch investigators can learn more on CenterNet (log-in required).
We maintain specific pathogen-free facilities through comprehensive testing and diagnostics. Our optimal health services remove the potential for intercurrent disease to confound research data and, for some agents, to adversely affect well-being.
All biologic products to be used for in vivo studies must first undergo pathogen testing for agents that may confound studies or introduce risk to animal and/or human health. Comparative Medicine can provide additional information on required testing during the study planning process.
We offer hands-on training to investigators in handling, equipment use, and a variety of techniques and procedures to aid in your research.
Comparative Pathology Services
We provide diagnostic and research pathology expertise for a wide range of laboratory species. For more information on our comparative pathology services, contact us via email or submit a request by emailing us the Comparative Pathology Request Form. For tissue processing, embedding and slide staining services, contact the Experimental Histopathology shared resource.
We provide a full range of pathology services including gross necropsy, microscopic interpretation and lesion scoring. We also offer consultation to investigators who are planning upcoming experiments involving histopathology.
Pathology and clinical veterinary staff collaborate through our biosecurity activities to ensure health. We can help determine the cause of any unexpected experimental results.
We offer FREE hands-on trainings including necropsy workshops, organ harvest or special techniques to individuals or small groups, tailored to attendees’ needs. E-mail us for availability. Email us for availability.