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MMRRC at UNC offers sperm cryopreservation to UNC Investigators as an easy and cost-effective option to preserve your strain. Sperm cryopreservation works best with single gene mutations and common genetic backgrounds, but is available to all mouse lines.

If you have a mouse line that is published, please visit www.mmrrc.org to apply for strain submission to our public repository. If accepted, there will be no fee for services. However, we will publish the strain as being available to the research community and we will take responsibility for distributing the strain to those requesting it.

It is our policy, as well as NIH’s, that all published strains should be deposited in the public repository for research community use. For strains made by investigators from other institutions but imported into UNC, we suggest that you to contact the originating investigator to encourage them to submit the strain to the public archive. If for any reason this is not possible, we will consider archiving the strain for you in the UNC private archive.

What we need

  • At least 2 male mice 10-24 weeks of age. Mice must be housed alone for at least 7 days prior to being transferred to our facility.
  • Cryopreservation will be done within 2 weeks of receiving your animals in our facility.

What you get

  • At least 25 straws (10uL of sperm/straw). All samples are frozen in 0.25cc Cassou French Insemination Straws.
  • QC in vitro fertilization (IVF): We will thaw 1 straw of sperm and perform a small IVF to assess motility, concentration and fertilization. Embryos produced from this IVF are cultured to blastocyst stage.
  • Sample storage options
  • QC to live pups option

Sample Storage Options

All samples are preserved in Cassou insemination straws and must be stored directly in liquid nitrogen or in liquid nitrogen vapor. Samples cannot be stored in any other type of freezer.

  • MMRRC Storage: We offer to store your samples in our permanent archive. If choosing storage at the MMRRC facility, there is a $200/year storage fee. This fee is pro-rated for the first year and invoiced at the time of cryopreservation. We offer discounts for multi-year storage payments: 10% off if paying upfront for 2-4 years of storage and 20% off if paying upfront for 5-10 years of storage.
  • Self-Storage/Investigator Lab: If choosing self-storage, straws will be held at the MMRRC facility until a QC in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is performed. Investigators are responsible for collecting their sample within 30 days of the date of QC, otherwise the sample will automatically be stored with the MMRRC and the investigating lab’s grant will be billed. If you leave the University without notifying us, we have the right to dispose of your samples.

QC to live pups option

For an additional $1085, MMRRC at UNC performs a small IVF with QC straw of sperm to access quality of the sample. The fertilization rate is recorded and embryos produced are transferred to a pseudo-pregnant mouse. The MMRRC at UNC cannot guarantee this will result in live pups. If pups are born, the surrogate will be health tested after pups are weaned. Due to the strict health standards of our colony, every surrogate that births must be sent to Charles River Laboratory for full health testing. The cost of health testing is included. It will take approximately 16 weeks until mice are ready to be transferred to your colony. If genotype verification is needed, we can tail snip the resulting pups at 10 days old. The tail snips will then be available for pick up by the investigator’s lab.

Pricing

Service Storage QC Type Total Cost
Sperm cryo

$545

Self Storage

No charge

QC Thaw/IVF

No charge

$545

Sperm cryo

$545

Self Storage

No charge

QC to live pups

Additional $1085

$1630

Sperm cryo

$545

MMRRC storage*

Additional $200

QC Thaw/IVF

No charge

$745

Sperm cryo

$545

MMRRC storage*

Additional $200

QC to live pups

Additional $1085

$1830

* 1st year of storage is pro-rated.

Disclaimer

The MMRRC at UNC cannot make any guarantees that this procedure will be successful. Sperm cryopreservation is highly variable between strains as well as with individual mice. If the QC results are less than satisfactory, the MMRRC can repeat sperm cryopreservation for an additional fee of $390.

The MMRRC at UNC cannot guarantee the QC to pups option will result in live pups. If pups are born, the surrogate will be health tested after pups are weaned. Due to the strict health standards of our colony, every surrogate that births must be sent to Charles River Labs for full health testing. The cost of health testing is included. It will take approximately 16 weeks until mice are ready to be transferred to your colony. If genotype verification is needed, we can tail snip the resulting pups at 10 days old. The tail snips will then be available for pick up by the investigator’s lab.