Turku Center for Disease Modeling (TCDM)

Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku

About Us

TCDM provides expertise in studies in experimental animals to support academic preclinical research. TCDM generates tumor xenograft and genetically modified mouse models for human diseases. Services using the animal models include pharmacological, dietary and surgical interventions as well as phenotyping analyses on our expertise areas: bone, cardiovascular, intestinal and thyroid diseases, obesity, oncology, neuroendocrinology and reproduction. Phenotyping analyses offered include histology, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy, hormonal measurements, in vivo imaging for live animals, for example. For drug development TCDM services include several type of drug efficacy tests, pharmacokinetic analyses of drug compounds and in vivo biodistribution analyses using preclinical animal models.

Services offered

DESIGN & GENERATION OF GM MOUSE MODELS
  • Pronucleus injection, ES targeting, CRISPR-Cas9 mutations

Generation of xenograft models
  • Xenografts and syngenic models, drug treatments

Mouse line cryopreservation
  • Embryos, sperm

Rederivation
  • Mouse strain recovery from frozen embryos or sperm
  • Pathogen removal

International shipments
  • Shipping and receiving cryopreserved GM strains

Pharmacological, dietary and surgical interventions

Mouse colony management

Cell culture
  • Mouse ES cells, human cancer cell lines, patient derived cells


Phenotyping (collaboration based)

TCDM Facilities and available tests

  • Animal imaging: PET/CT, magnetic resonance, ultrasound and optical imaging
  • Bone biology: X-ray analyses, bone histomorphometry, mineral content, tension strength
  • Cardiovascular research: In vitro assessment of cardiac and vascular functions by isometric micromyography, Langendorf perfused heart preparation and Radnoti working heart model
  • Clinical chemistry: Sensitive immunoflurometric assayas (Delfia), Elisa kits, Multiplex immunoassays
  • Intestinal diseases:  Colitis (colonic inflammation, inflammatory bowel diseases) and colon cancer analyses
  • Neuroendocrinology: Quantitative and in situ expression analyses of neuropeptides and receptors at the gene and protein levels in specific brain regions, analysis of hormonal and gene/protein expression in hypothalamus and pituitary
  • Nutrition and Metabolism: Various dietary interventions, food intake and feeding behavior, energy expenditure, physical activity, body composition, adipose tissue morphology and function, body temperature, glucose and lipid metabolism, hepatosteatosis
  • Reproduction: analyses of reproductive performance, in vitro fertilization (IVF), sperm morphological, functional (capacitation, acrosome reaction) and motility (CASA) analyses
  • Thyroid diseases: thyroid hormone measurements, morphological analyses, functional analyses (thyroid growth tests, thyroid hormone release tests, pinocytosis, iodine uptake, proliferation and signaling), isolation of primary thyrocytes
  • Tumor Biology: Generation of xenograft models, genetically modified mouse tumor models and chemically induced cancer models, tumor growth follow-up (palpations, optical imaging), treatment trials
  • Urodynamics: Bladder pressure recordings, urine flow rates, measurements of electrical activities of the urethral striated muscle

Further information

Petra Sipilä | Research director
Email: petra.sipila (at) utu.fi
Phone: +358-294-504643