Facility Infrastructure

The PATh PDX facility is a full service program and operates three independent research rooms behind the barrier on the 2nd floor of the East Campus Research Facility (ECRF). We maintain an animal breeding colony of NSG mice, an experimental procedure room, and an MRI suite.

  1. Animal Breeding Colony
    • PATh maintains its own breeding colony of NSG mice
    • Restricted access to maintain integrity/health of the colony
    • PPE required at all times to maintain sterile working environment
    • Dedicated laminar flow stations for cage transfers and handling
    • Currently available strains are NSG and NSG expressing IL6 human transgene
  2. Animal Procedure Room
    • PATh has a dedicated biosafety cabinet and anesthesia equipment for PDX mice
    • PATh operates this room following all BSL-2 protocols
    • Animals used in procedure room come from PATh breeding colony to maintain hygienic integrity of all experimental animals
  3. MRI Suite
    • Aspect Imaging M3 High Resolution Compact MRI (1T)
    • Specifically designed to image mice
    • MRI is located behind the barrier to prevent spread of infection to NSG mice
    • MRI can scan using T1 or T2 weighted images and can track tumor progression and metastases
    • MRI uses a permanent magnet which allows for minimal servicing and almost 100% uptime