MMRRC Annual Meeting

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Center (MMRRC) is a major NIH-supported national mutant mouse archive and distribution consortium that provides genetically altered mice, cryopreserved materials, embryonic stem (ES) cell lines, technical support, and value-added services to the biomedical research community. The MMRRC Program is supported by the NIH National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) and is organized through U42 cooperative agreements that administratively and operationally link the NCRR with 4 repositories located strategically in the Western (University of California-Davis), Central (University of Missouri), and Eastern (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and The Jackson Laboratory) USA, and an Informatics, Coordination and Service Center (ICSC;The Jackson Laboratory). This organizational structure ensures the protection, preservation, and availability of mutant mouse strains for research by academic and, as of 2010, for-profit investigators and enables NIH-funded researchers to meet the NIH resource-sharing requirement in a convenient and cost-effective manner. In its 11th year of operation, the MMRRC (www.mmrrc.org), as of 1 April 2010, has grown to an inventory of 2,234 mutant and genetically engineered mouse models maintained either as live colonies or cryopreserved germplasm, and 27,627 ES cell lines. In 2010, the MMRRC program was expanded by adding The Jackson Laboratory, an internationally recognized mouse resource center, as the fourth MMRRC repository. During its first 10 years, the MMRRC's original 3 repositories together filled over 6,629 orders from 2,170 investigators at over 1,430 institutions worldwide. Over 325 investigators and 10 major NIH-funded resource model development programs have preserved their strains and ES cell lines using the MMRRC. A multi-institutional, regionally distributed program of this size requires frequent communication. Monthly teleconferences are used to coordinate operations;however, annual meetings are critical to provide sufficient time and face-to-face interactions to discuss long-term strategies to ensure that the MMRRC Program continues to serve the rapidly evolving needs of the scientific community. These annual meetings also are invaluable to address numerous operational, organizational, and policy issues and develop strategies to continue to enhance the effectiveness of the MMRRC program. Therefore, this proposal requests $18,030 to support the 9th Annual MMRRC Meeting in May 2011 at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. This meeting will bring together the Principal Investigators and other key personnel from each of the 4 repositories and the ICSC, NCRR and other NIH Program staff. The goals of this meeting will be to 1) critically and objectively review and assess MMRRC operational and performance metrics, 2) discuss research goals and accomplishments of individual centers, and 3) develop strategies for meeting ongoing and evolving needs of the scientific research community using mouse resources. The continued growth and success of the MMRRC Program has shown the value of these annual meetings. ) PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE (provided by applicant): The Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Center (MMRRC) is a major NIH-supported national mutant mouse archive and distribution consortium that provides invaluable resources to the biomedical research community: genetically altered mice, cryopreserved materials, embryonic stem (ES) cell lines, technical support, and value- added services. Mouse models for human disorders and for basic biomedical research are critical to understand biological systems affected by human diseases. With a sequenced genome and increasingly sophisticated stem cell technologies to manipulate it, the mouse remains the most powerful model organism for biomedical research. Genetically engineered mouse models with mutations in orthologs of human genes are critical for translational and pre clinical research. They enable scientists to understand the causes, pathologies and progression of human diseases so that prevention strategies or therapeutics for these diseases can be developed. In addition, therapies or drugs can be tested on mouse models prior to human trials to assess efficacy and safety. Communication among MMRRC components is critical for its continued success in meeting evolving needs of biomedical research community.