Taconic offers a diverse suite of models and services for your cardiometabolic studies ranging from preconditioned obese mice and humanized GEMs to custom aging and diet administration services. Browse our catalog of readily available models for your next CMD study or discuss your specific project needs with a scientist. We also have a range of resources to learn more about preclinical models used for CMD applications.
Taconic offers well-characterized diet-induced obesity (DIO) models, including the widely used DIO C57BL/6NTac mouse, which reliably develops obesity and metabolic dysfunction on high-fat diets.
In addition to standard offerings, custom diet conditioning is available on a variety of genetic backgrounds and diet types — enabling tailored models for your specific research needs.
DIO—Diet Induced Obese B6
Explore Taconic’s Diet-Induced Obese (DIO) B6 mouse model. Consistent, reproducible, and ready for metabolic disease study, this model is ideal for preclinical studies in diabetes, insulin resistance, and weight gain.
Taconic offers a readily available diet-induced MASH (Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis) model on the C57BL/6NTac background, fed a high-fat, high-fructose, high-cholesterol diet to induce steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis. This off-the-shelf model is ideal for studying liver pathology progression and therapeutic intervention.
Custom diet conditioning is also available to support alternative MASH protocols using different diets, timelines, or genetic backgrounds — giving you the flexibility to align the model with your research goals.
Diet Induced MASH B6
Taconic is the first and only vendor to offer a diet-induced MASH mouse model off the shelf. Explore Taconic’s Diet-Induced MASH B6 mouse model.
Highlighted in Nature
An unbiased ranking of murine dietary models based on their proximity to human metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).
Read this paper to learn about the translatability of different MASH diets.
Taconic offers a portfolio of genetically engineered dyslipidemia models designed to replicate key features of human lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis risk. These models are valuable tools for studying cardiovascular disease, lipoprotein regulation, and lipid-lowering therapeutics.
All models are available off the shelf, with optional diet conditioning services (e.g., Western or high-fat diets) to enhance disease progression or match your study design.
Paper
Lipid-encapsulated mRNA encoding an extended serum half-life interleukin-22 ameliorates metabolic disease in mice. Check out Figure 5 to see the phenotypic response of ApoB100/CETP B6 mice on a MASH diet.
Taconic offers well-characterized genetic models of diabetes for studying disease onset, progression, and therapeutic response in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Both models can be supported with custom breeding, rederivation, or colony management services, and diet conditioning is available to further modulate disease severity or onset.

Metabolic parameters in Taconic's Diet Induced Obese (DIO) B6 mouse. Insulin, fasted blood glucose and HOMA-IR in DIO B6 compared to wild type C57BL/6NTac controls (A-C) or for DIO B6 at two different longitudinal timepoints (D-F). Insulin sensitivity assessed after an acclimation period. Animals were fasted for 5-6 h. After fast, blood glucose levels taken via tail nick with One Touch glucometer. Immediately, extra blood collected for insulin ELISA. Blood was collected in EDTA-coated microvette tubes (Fisher # NC9041302). Ultra Sensitive Mouse Insulin Kit from Crystal Chem (#90080) used to perform insulin ELISA, with protocol followed according to manufacturer's instructions. Data provided by an anonymous biopharmaceutical company.
Study-Ready Disease Models
Access validated Obesity, MASH, Diabetes, and Dislipidemia models, many of which are on the C57BL/6NTac (B6) background lacking the Nnt mutation and optimized for cardiometabolic research.
Full-Service In Vivo Phenotyping
Talk to us to learn more about our in vivo phenotyping capabilities
Custom Diet Conditioning
Save 6–12 weeks of ramp-up time with mice and rats preconditioned on your exact diet — including high-fat, MASH, Western, or custom nutrition protocols, with cohorts delivered at your specified cadence.
Microbiome & Diet-Sensitive Housing
Maintain study integrity with controlled housing and diet handling for microbiome-sensitive models, including germ-free and gnotobiotic support on request.
Custom Model Generation
Need a unique genetic background or pathway modification? Taconic offers complete model creation via CRISPR, ES cell, or embryo microinjection technologies.
Colony Management & Scalability
From pilot cohorts to large-scale studies, Taconic maintains, expands, and ships your colonies globally — with defined health status and barrier conditions.
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In addition to off-the-shelf diet-conditioned models, Taconic can also deliver study-ready cohorts preconditioned on standard or custom diets.
You choose the diet conditioning parameters with the help of a Taconic Scientific Solutions Consultant
Taconic conditions cohorts to your specifications
Animals arrive ready for dosing or phenotyping
| Diet Type | Description | Therapeutic Applications |
|---|---|---|
| High-fat diet | 40-60 kcal% fat, typically from lard Option: L-NAME in diet | Obesity, metabolic disease 2-hit HFpEF model |
| Western diet | 40-45 kcal% from fat, lard based or other; may contain additional fructose or sucrose; added cholesterol | Atherosclerosis, obesity, metabolic syndrome |
| MASH diet | High-fat, high-fructose, high cholesterol models such as the modified-Amylin diet Methionine and choline deficient diets Choline deficient diets | MASLD with varying degrees of translatability and fibrosis |
| Adenine enriched diet | 0.15-0.2% for mice 0.75% for rats | Acute or chronic kidney disease |
| Low fat diets | 10-15% fat, purified ingredient formulation | Control diet for disease model |
| Inducible model diets | Doxycycline or tamoxifen incorporated into a standard diet | Various |
Comprehensive In Vivo Solutions for Obesity, Diabetes, MASH, and Cardiovascular Disease
Taconic offers a complete suite of preclinical services to support drug discovery and translational research in cardiometabolic disease. Whether you need ready-to-use disease models, custom diet conditioning, or full-service phenotyping support, our offerings are designed to accelerate your program while maintaining scientific rigor and reproducibility.
Get In Touch
Email: info@taconic.com
Phone: +1 (518) 697-3900
273 Hover Ave., Germantown, NY 12526
Email: info@taconic.com
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Email: info@taconic.com
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