Enabling Research
In the Comparative Medicine shared resource, our teams of technicians, veterinarians, pathologists and operations specialists offer comprehensive, high quality and compassionate services. We offer our time- and cost-effective services to both Fred Hutch and external users.
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Comparative Medicine Services | Comparative Pathology Services
Schedule With Us
To schedule services with the Comparative Medicine shared resource, or to get more information about how we can work with you, visit our rates and scheduling page or send a message to the primary contact for the relevant service area, below.
Comparative Medicine Services
For more information about the comparative medicine services we offer, contact Dr. Gordon Roble, associate vice president of resources.
We offer consultation on animal model selection and development, experimental design, and veterinary, technical and care requirements prior to Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) protocol submission.
Our staff provides high-quality husbandry and veterinary care daily. We offer a wide variety of additional services, including colony management, basic experimental procedure support, and monitoring. Our facility has dedicated surgery and procedure rooms.
We support the development and maintenance of preclinical mouse models, including mice bearing a humanized immune system, and we provide technical services including injections and implants via multiple routes, irradiation, sample collections, bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging, and surgical procedures. We can perform individual technical services or complete an entire in vivo experiment. For more information about our specialized mouse services, contact Marian Esvelt.
We can conduct a wide array of individual technical services for translational studies, including, but not limited to, the following:
Humanized Mice
We currently offer humanized mouse models — mice engrafted with human peripheral blood lymphocytes, human bone marrow or human hematopoietic CD34+ cells. Human bone marrow or CD34+ cells can be engrafted into either adult or neonatal mice.
Our basic analysis of human engraftment involves staining peripheral blood samples with a mixture of antibodies specific for mouse CD45, human CD45 (all human hematopoietic cells), human CD33 (myeloid cells), CD14 (monocytes, macrophages), CD19 (B cells) and CD3 (T cells). We can include additional antibodies where necessary and at users’ request. Our analysis can be longitudinal or at a discrete time point to determine success prior to downstream experiments.
Mouse Experiments and Study Support
We can complete entire preclinical studies: grafting cells or tumors for study, to drug administration and downstream sample collection and analysis. We provide regular updates, including spreadsheets with data specific to the study. Contact us to discuss your needs and we will provide a customized study plan and cost estimate.
Fred Hutch investigators can learn more on CenterNet (log-in required).
We maintain specific pathogen-free facilities through comprehensive testing and diagnostics. Our optimal health services remove the potential for intercurrent disease to confound research data and, for some agents, to adversely affect well-being.
All biologic products to be used for in vivo studies must first undergo pathogen testing for agents that may confound studies or introduce risk to animal and/or human health. Comparative Medicine can provide additional information on required testing during the study planning process.
We offer hands-on training to investigators in handling, equipment use, and a variety of techniques and procedures to aid in your research.
The preclinical imaging team provides state-of-the-art in vivo imaging technology and infrastructure to support basic and preclinical research. Our modalities include the following:
- Ultra high-frequency ultrasound imaging
- Bioluminescence and fluorescence optical imaging
- 7.0 T cryogen-free magnetic resonance imaging
- Multiphoton microscope for intravital imaging
- Microcomputed tomography imaging
Additional imaging resources are available through the Translational Bioimaging Core, or TBIC, a partnership between our animal imaging team and the University of Washington Department of Radiology to support imaging research by members of the Fred Hutch/University of Washington Cancer Consortium.
The Preclinical Modeling shared resource at Fred Hutch is a core that supports the development and maintenance of preclinical mouse models, including patient-derived xenografts (PDX), cell-line xenografts and genetically engineered mouse models (GEMM).
The PDX program is designed to streamline your cancer research. We help you achieve the best results by offering guidance and advice throughout the process. Our expert team provides investigators with resources, technical services, study support and data access. We also generate, revive and serially repassage PDX and cell line-derived xenograft, or CDX, tissues in mice, supporting your preclinical studies and adding to our developing tumor repository.
The GEMM team offers state-of-the-art services for the development and maintenance of transgenic mouse strains, including all modern genome editing tools and expertise in mouse transgenesis. We use CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, which offers several advantages over traditional mouse transgenic technologies, including time savings, cost effectiveness and a potential reduction in animal usage. We continue to pursue new technologies and develop novel resources for preclinical research.
Comparative Pathology Services
We provide diagnostic and research pathology expertise for a wide range of laboratory species. For more information on our comparative pathology services, contact us via email or submit a request by emailing us the Comparative Pathology Request Form. For tissue processing, embedding and slide staining services, contact the Experimental Histopathology shared resource.
We provide a full range of pathology services including gross necropsy, microscopic interpretation and lesion scoring. We also offer consultation to investigators who are planning upcoming experiments involving histopathology.
Pathology and clinical veterinary staff collaborate through our biosecurity activities to ensure health. We can help determine the cause of any unexpected experimental results.
We offer FREE hands-on trainings including necropsy workshops, organ harvest or special techniques to individuals or small groups, tailored to attendees’ needs. E-mail us for availability. Email us for availability.