Here are some answers to your most frequently asked questions about our gene targeting services. If this section is unable to answer your questions, please contact us.

- What entails the full, comprehensive approach to creating a gene targeted mouse?

- What is the duration of producing a knockout mouse at iTL?

- How can I be involved in designing the knockout construct of my gene of interest?

- Where are my mice being housed?

- What is involved in the delivery of the mice?

- Does iTL have the rights to my mouse?

- Does iTL provide individual steps for their knockout services?

- How do I track the status of my project?

- How does iTL create the targeting constructs?

- What ES cell lines are offered at iTL?

- How do I find a suitable Cre line for my project?

	What entails the full, comprehensive approach to creating a gene-targeted mouse?

	What is the duration of producing a full knockout mouse at iTL?
	- Depending on the construct, complexity and ES strain types without any complications, the full comprehensive approach to create a knockout mouse can be completed in as fast as 7 months.

	How can I be involved in designing the knockout construct of my gene of interest?
	At the inception of your project, iTL’s technical team submits a proposal for the design of your vector. Upon your approval, work will be initiated.

Where are my mice being housed?

All our mice are housed under maximum isolation conditions at an AAALAC accredited facility. The animal facility is pathogen free and complies with all federal animal health guidelines. In order to ensure optimal health, sentinel animals are routinely tested for opportunistic pathogens. Colony health surveillance is performed on sentinel animals on a quarterly basis, including serology and parasitology. We can meet the specific requirements of all facilities worldwide.  If additional testing is required, we will provide the tests to your package.

	What is involved in the delivery of the mice?
	Upon approval from both iTL and the investigator's animal facilities, the chimeras and/or F1 heterozygotes will be delivered immediately. iTL does keep a minimum of one germline transmission mouse at our animal facility for a period of 90 days.iTL also keeps a frozen vial of each positive ES cell clone for quick generation of mice when necessary. For more details, please inquire.

	Does iTL have the rights to my mouse?
	As soon as you decide to use iTL's services, we no longer have any rights to the specific gene we are genetically modifying. We simply complete all the necessary steps and provide you with the germline transmission mice.All materials and mice are your intellectual property and no materials will be reused for other projects.

	Does iTL provide individual steps for their knockout services?
	Although performing the full comprehensive approach is the most cost effective way to create a knockin or knockout mouse, perform partial services as well. We can create targeting vectors for clients, or accept already-made vectors for electroporation. We can generate targeted cell lines (including human), or accept already-targeted ES cells for microinjection.

	How do I track the status of my project?
	Each project is assigned to a project manager who will be available to answer questions relating to your project. Project documents are also uploaded onto our secure, password protected customer database which can be accessed 24/7.

	How does iTL create the targeting constructs?
	iTL creates its targeting constructs by using the high-fidelity Red/ET recombineering method. We isolate genomic BACs from our internal library, and use homologous recombination to produce the vectors. By comparison to the traditional PCR-based process, BAC recombineering is much less likely to introduce unwanted mutations.

	What ES cell lines are offered by iTL?
	Your mice can be created using our proprietary 129 SvEv, C57BL/6 or Hybrid (129 x C57) ES cell lines.

	How do I find a suitable Cre line for my project?
	Some good sources include The Jackson Laboratory (http://jaxmice.jax.org/index.html) and The Nagy Lab Database (http://www.mshri.on.ca/nagy/).