8th Annual Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Center (MMRRC) Program Meeting

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Center (MMRRC) Program is the NIH's national mutant mouse archive and distribution system, providing genetically-altered mice and cryopreserved materials, technical support, and value-added services to the biomedical research community. The MMRRC Program is organized through a U42 cooperative agreement, which administratively and operationally links the NIH with 3 repositories located strategically in the West (University of California-Davis), Central (University of Missouri), and East (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), and 1 informatics and customer service center (ICSC;The Jackson Laboratory). This organizational structure ensures the protection, preservation, availability, and accessibility of mutant mouse lines for research use by non-profit academic investigators and for-profit commercial entities. The MMRRC is now in its 9th year of operation (www.mmrrc.org), and has grown to an inventory of over 28,977 mutant and genetically engineered mouse lines maintained either as live colonies, cryopreserved germplasm, and/or cryopreserved embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Over the last 9 years, the 3 repositories have together fulfilled approximately 5,400 orders from 1,200 investigators at over 800 institutions worldwide for more than 8,400 mutants in the form of live mice, frozen germplasm, and/or mutant embryonic stem cells (ESC). The multi-institutional, collaborative nature of the interactions between the NIH, repositories, and the ICSC that enable this level of performance necessitates frequent communication through mainly monthly teleconferences and annual face-to-face meetings among all MMRRC Program participants. While monthly teleconferences enable the coordination of day-to-day operations and management of mouse lines, they do not provide the participants with sufficient time to discuss short and long term strategies and planning to ensure the MMRRC Program remains relevant and useful to the scientific community. Further, as the demand for and use of genetically-altered mice and associated technical support and services increases, it is necessary for key individuals within the MMRRC program to come together in person at least once every year to address numerous operational, organizational, and policy issues. Therefore, this proposal requests funds in the amount of $19,993 to support the 8th Annual MMRRC Meeting. This meeting will bring together the Principal Investigators and other key individuals from each of the 3 repositories and the ICSC, NCRR and other NIH Program staff, and members of the scientific community with interests in mutant mouse resources. The objectives and goals of this meeting will be to 1) critically and objectively review and assess operational and performance metrics, 2) analyze and troubleshoot commonly shared operational issues and challenges, and to 3) develop proposals and plans for enhancing and optimizing operational efficiency that maximizes program effectiveness for the benefit of the biomedical research community. While past history has shown the value of these annual meetings, the importance of this particular meeting cannot be over emphasized, especially as the MMRRC Program is facing its second 5 year competitive renewal in 2010. Therefore, by enabling face-to-face discussions on operational, technical, and policy issues, the proposed conference will ensure the MMRRC continues to serve as a valuable resource for the availability and accessibility of genetically altered mice and associated services to the scientific research community. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This proposal requests funds to support the next annual meeting of the Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Center (MMRRC) Program. The MMRRC Program is the NIH's mutant mouse archive and distribution system, providing mutant mice, technical support, and value-added services to the biomedical research community. This meeting will bring together the Principal Investigators and other key individuals from each of the 3 repositories at UC Davis, University of Missouri, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the 1 Informatics and Customer Service Center (ICSC) at The Jackson Laboratory, NCRR and other NIH Program staff, and members of the scientific community with interests in mutant mouse resources. The objectives and goals of this meeting will be to 1) critically and objectively review and assess operational and performance metrics, 2) analyze and troubleshoot commonly shared operational issues and challenges, and 3) develop proposals and plans for enhancing and optimizing operational efficiency that maximizes program effectiveness for the benefit of the biomedical research community.