Taconic Insights

Many animal models have been developed to study inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and they remain in general use for screening of potential new therapies. But a recent review article questions the relevance of many of these models, citing evidence that they may not accurately predict therapeutic response in patients. Background: Types of Rodent Colitis Models Colitis models are commonly grouped into three categories: Chemically-induced colitis: Chemicals such...  Read More

International Liver Congress™ 2019 Statistics. Source: EASL Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) continues to be a hot topic in metabolic disease research. The NASH research field gathers twice a year at major conferences: The Liver Meeting is organized by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) in the US in the Autumn. International Liver Congress is organized by the European Association for the Study of the...  Read More

Dr. Paula Roesch recently presented a webinar on microbiological monitoring of germ-free and gnotobiotic colonies. Taconic Biosciences has decades of experience in this area and Dr. Roesch presented a thorough look at all aspects of the process, starting from tools and approaches to process validation and monitoring and moving into isolator monitoring techniques. She even included lessons learned from a case study where things didn't go as...  Read More

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease (after Alzheimer's disease) and the most common movement disorder. The worldwide incidence of PD has more than doubled since 1990 to an estimated 6.1 million PD patients globally in 20161. In the United States in 2017, the estimated total economic burden of PD was $51.9 billion (The Lewin Group, Inc., Final Report commissioned by and submitted to...  Read More

Please see the Translational Microbiome Research Forum's Events for updated information regarding meeting cancellations and changes Looking for a microbiome conference or workshop? 2020 looks to be a banner year for microbiome conferences. Here are some upcoming sessions we'll be following with interest. 2020 Microbiome Conferences The Translational Microbiome Research Forum (TMRF) is still among the best options for finding microbiome-related events and workshops. They list over...  Read More

Dr. Cristina Weiner recently presented a webinar featuring a novel approach to germ-free derivations. She discussed the importance of understanding baseline performance and making incremental process improvements as well as how Taconic Biosciences developed and implemented a new facility design which supports improved germ-free derivation success. We present the full webinar Q&A here. Dr. Cristina Weiner: While recognizing that the germ-free integrity of the animal is most...  Read More

To our Insights readers, Please accept our sincere gratitude for making Insights so widely read. It has been a delight providing these informative articles over the past few years. Please indulge us as we take a break from our standard format for this year-ending Insight. — The Taconic Biosciences' Insight Team What will you do as we near the end of the year? It's the time when...  Read More

Dr. Philip Dubé recently presented a webinar on validated Il10 knockout mouse models for IBD research. He gave an overview of research in this area and presented new data on these models from studies done by Boehringer Ingelheim and Incyte. Due to time constraints, many of the questions submitted during the webinar went unanswered. We present a full Q&A here. Characterization of Il10 Knockouts Dr. Philip Dubé:...  Read More

Stephanie Oldham and Christian Rivera of AstraZeneca recently presented a webinar on the use of a survivable liver biopsy in NASH mouse models, which is a technique that can provide valuable information on disease stage in individual mice prior to study initiation. In particular, it can be used to exclude outliers and properly randomize the remaining mice into study groups. Due to time constraints, many of the...  Read More

CRISPR/Cas9 is an extremely useful tool for both academic and commercial researchers. It is also widely used in the generation of custom mice and rats from licensed animal model vendors. However, there are multiple patents covering this technology and understanding the differences between them is essential before utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 for model generation. This Insight will focus on two key CRISPR/Cas9 patents and how they have influenced model...  Read More