Our team superovulates females, mates them with investigator‑provided stud males, and cryopreserves embryos at the 2‑cell stage. Each project aims to preserve 250 heterozygous or 150 homozygous embryos to ensure successful future recovery. To achieve this, stud males are mated weekly with egg donors per cryopreservation session to produce embryos for cryopreservation.
When to Choose Embryo Cryopreservation
Embryo freezing is ideal for:
- Homozygous lines
- Models carrying multiple mutations
- Lines where maintaining genetic combinations is essential
This method offers enhanced confidence in preserving complex or multi‑allelic genotypes.
Requirements
- A minimum of 10 singly housed hemizygous proven breeder males
IVF‑Based Embryo Cryopreservation
Embryos can also be banked following IVF using fresh or frozen sperm with oocytes from superovulated females. The resulting embryos are frozen at the 2‑cell stage for future recovery. This rapid cryopreservation method offers a key advantage, it requires only one or two proven breeder males.
Secure Long‑Term Storage
All frozen embryos are stored in monitored liquid nitrogen tanks managed exclusively by our staff which are stored in two separate locations. Annual storage fees apply unless lines are contributed to the Vanderbilt Cryopreserved Mouse Repository.
Included Quality Control
Embryo cryopreservation includes a quality check: thawing one to two straws and observing embryo development in culture.
Timeline
- PI submits a service request through iLab
- Request reviewed by facility Director and Manager
- Experiments scheduled
- Embryos collected, cryopreserved, and placed into long‑term storage
- One to two straws thawed for viability assessment
- PI receives viability results
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