Gnotobiotics Core

This core will provide services for the generation of germ-free and gnotobiotic mice and assistance with study design, sample collection, routine gnotobiotic husbandry, contamination monitoring, microbiota transplantations and other core assays and experiments for microbiome research. In so doing, the facility aims to bolster innovative and collaborative microbiome research at UCLA.

Gnotobiotics Core Director: Elaine Y. Hsiao, PhD

For more information, contact [email protected]

Services of the Gnotobiotics Core

1. Provide Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center and UCLA members with access to germ-free mice
   • Supply germ-free B6 mice to be used for experiments
   • Supply germ-free Swiss Webster mice to be used for experiments
   • Maintain dedicated germ-free B6 mouse colonies
   • Maintain dedicated germ-free Swiss Webster mouse colonies
   • Routine contamination testing by anaerobic culture
   • Routine contamination testing by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
2. Provide Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center and UCLA members with services to generate gnotobiotic mice using defined cultured microbes or complex microbial communities from host biospecimens
   • Consult on gnotobiotic colonization procedures and best practices based on study needs
   • Supply germ-free B6 mice to be used for gnotobiotic colonization
   • Supply germ-free Swiss Webster mice to be used for gnotobiotic colonization
   • Perform gnotobiotic colonization using investigator supplied microbial cultures or biospecimens
   • Maintain gnotobiotic mice
   • Sample collection and validation of colonization status
3. Provide Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center and UCLA members with services to assist with gnotobiotic study design and execution
   • Consult on gnotobiotic study design and execution
   • Consult on procedures for C-section hysterectomy to establish novel germ-free lines of mice
   • Consult on microbiome transplantations
   • Consult on probiotic, prebiotic or metabolite administration experiments
   • Consult on microbiome depletion experiments
   • Consult on microbial enrichment experiments
   • Consult on mouse phenotyping (e.g., behavioral testing, necropsy, tissue harvest, etc.)