The transgenic core facility has existed, under the direction of Dr Michel Tremblay, since 1991. Initially serving the McGill community in the production of knockout mice, the facility has since expanded to include a wide variety of transgenic and KO services encompassing an expansive clientele, which includes other universities in Quebec and Canada as well as some biotechnology companies. Our primary goal remains, however; to provide the McGill community with a centralized transgenic service facility which is efficient and reliable.
Our transgenic laboratory and mouse rooms currently reside in the animal facility of the McIntyre Medical Sciences Building. The animal facility is an SPF barrier facility and our transgenic rooms have an extra level of restricted access that only admits the transgenic core staff. Our animal room has a capacity for 1500 mouse cages while the adjacent laboratory has 3 microinjection stations, 5 dissection microscopes and a surgery hood allowing us to accommodate the needs of the entire community with minimal wait times.