Back to Table of Contents

Report of the NIH Rat Model Repository Workshop

To provide training to the research community in the various technologies and approaches used at the NRGRC.

The NRGRC should sponsor workshops at the Center for the purpose of training the research community to use technologies of interest, which the Center utilizes. In addition, visits could be arranged for qualified persons outside the NRGRC having a legitimate interest in technologies being used in the NRGRC. These include, but are not limited to, cryopreservation, barrier maintenance, and embryo transfer. The NRGRC should also sponsor workshops on technological advances at other institutions or scientific meetings as opportunities arise.

To sponsor meetings to discuss various uses of the rat in biomedical research and the developments in rat genetics and genomics.

The NRGRC should provide a platform for scientific discourse in the form of an annual symposium held in a venue and with an audience that reflects the international nature of the NRGRC's activities.

A meeting of the rat community to discuss themes of common interest is critical to the long-term utility of the rat as an important genetic resource. The meeting would be an efficient mechanism for reporting on new technology for preservation, new models being developed (e.g., congenics, consomics, transgenics, embryonic stem cells, etc.), and other matters of scientific interest. Meetings should be held in conjunction with existing workshops such as the International Workshops on Genetic Systems in the Rat, to be held annually after the next workshop (XIII) in Gothenburg, or the International Cardiovascular Meetings. One advantage to this arrangement is that subgroups, such as the International Rat Genetic Nomenclature Committee, which also meets in association with the Rat Workshops, would then be a part of this symposium. The NRGRC should take the lead in organizing these groups into a common symposium and in publishing a proceedings.

A wide range of issues could be considered, including nomenclature, new resources (e.g., new transgenics/ congenics/consomics/RIs, the status of embryonic stem cells for rat, etc.), improved cryopreservation protocols, and quality control methods (genetic and microbiological). Discussion to reevaluate which strains are on-line and which are cryopreserved would be useful. Consideration of international issues—including international standards of genetic and microbiological quality, import/export restrictions, and methods of transferring strains and stocks between countries—should be undertaken. Implementation

The group of internationally recognized scientists strongly encouraged the NIH to take this unique opportunity to establish a National Rat Genetics Resource Center. The rat has always been an important animal in biomedical research, and its use is expected to expand dramatically with a paradigm shift toward determining gene function. The utility of the information generated by these investigations would be significantly diminished if the rats used in these studies were not standardized and monitored for their genetic purity and their health status. This is particularly important since much of biomedical research is concerned with the genetic bases of disease. Further, the study of complex diseases requires ready access to critical model systems and optimal health status of the animals used in order to prevent adventitious events due to ill health, which might confound the experiments. The focus of the implementation of these essential components of research should be a National Rat Genetic Resource Center, which, in turn, could also disseminate information and standardization materials to the scientific community both in the United States and abroad.

Back to Table of Contents