Taconic Insights

Dr. Amy Wesa, Director of Immuno-Oncology Research at Champions Oncology, recently presented a Taconic Biosciences' webinar to share her insights on leveraging murine systems toward establishing models that epitomize patient populations and enable predictive outcomes. This presentation described how Champions Oncology is complementing PDX models with incorporated human immune cells to drive the next generation of patient-derived models. Following her presentation, Dr. Wesa addressed numerous questions from...  Read More

The kidneys of immunodeficient mice infected with MKPV appear pale and shrunken on gross necropsy. Histology reveals significant fibrosis. Source: Roediger et al. Cell 20181 It's been over 18 months since mouse kidney parvovirus (MKPV) was identified as a novel pathogen causing inclusion body nephropathy and eventually renal failure and even death in immunodeficient mice. Roediger et al. described this finding in an Oct 2018 Cell paper:...  Read More

COVID-19 modeling in mice has been limited by species differences in the ACE2 protein between mice and humans. The SARS-CoV-2 virus uses the ACE2 protein to facilitate entry into cells. The mouse ACE2 receptor is not permissive for viral binding, and thus initial reports indicate that wild type mice cannot be infected with SARS-CoV-2 1,2. One approach to overcoming this challenge is the use of transgenic mice...  Read More

There is an urgent need to find mouse models to support the development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and therapeutics and combat the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent study from Peking Union Medical College has demonstrated the promising application of humanized angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) transgenic mice for SARS-CoV-2 research1. Mouse models are widely used to develop and test the safety and efficacy of vaccines and antiviral drugs, as...  Read More

This year the second part of the American Association for Cancer Research's (AACR) Annual Meeting will be held virtually from June 22nd-24th. While the in-person annual AACR conference attracts over 23,000 researchers in multiple fields, the virtual meeting attendance could be even higher with free online access through AACR's website. Topics that will be discussed throughout the meeting include the latest developments in tumor biology and genetics,...  Read More

Dr. Paul Volden recently presented a webinar on humanized immune system mouse models, focusing on engraftment of PBMCs and isolated cell subsets. Taconic has extensive experience with humanized mice, both from internal research as well as many collaborations with external partners. Although hematopoietic stem cell-engrafted models such as the huNOG and huNOG-EXL may be better known, these alternate humanization approaches offer advantages for certain studies. We present...  Read More

With many researchers and laboratory animal professionals under orders to remain at home to limit the spread of coronavirus, we know you may have a bit more time on your hands than usual. To help keep you engaged while working from home, Taconic Biosciences has pulled together a series of educational materials organized around different therapeutic areas. This is the second track in our series. Learn at...  Read More

The word rodent is derived from the Latin word rodere, which means "to gnaw". This process of gnawing brings to light common dental maladies that are of paramount importance to animal welfare. One specific condition is called malocclusion, which is caused by the misalignment of the incisors and may involve overgrowth of the molars or cheek teeth. If untreated, teeth will overgrow and prevent the rodent from...  Read More

Regulatory T (Treg) lymphocytes play an essential role in maintaining homeostasis of the immune system. Characterized by expression of the forkhead box transcription factor (Foxp3), populations of Tregs are divided into two subsets: thymus-derived, or natural Treg cells (nTreg), peripheral Treg cells (pTreg), or induced Treg cells that arise extrathymically1. Both subsets work to maintain immune balance by limiting excessive effector responses and providing immune tolerance to...  Read More

Figure Legend: Histopathology of lungs from aged 129S6 (A), B6 (C) and BALB/c (E) mice infected with SARS-CoV at 3 days post-infection. H&E stain. Adapted from Roberts, et al.5 COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is rapidly spreading over the globe. On March 11th, 2020, the WHO declared this outbreak a pandemic, and since then, multiple travel bans have been put in place in attempts at slowing...  Read More