HSV-Tk mice available

Greetings, the Glomski lab is planning to terminate a transgenic mouse line that may be of value to others, so we thought we’d give other researchers the opportunity to experiment with these mice before they are not longer available at UVA.

More precise information about these mice can be found here: http://www.mmrrc.org/strains/10860/010860.html

In short, these mice turn on HSV-thymidine kinase upon recombination by Cre-recombinase, allowing tissue specific expression of HSV-Tk. HSV-Tk expression renders cells sensitive to ganciclovir toxicity such that Cre-expressing cells can be specifically targeted for ablation (similar to the Diphtheria toxin system). Additionally HSV-Tk can also be used to concentrate radioactive thymidine analogs in the target cell to allow their imaging with PET or SPECT imaging systems.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you wish to use these mice. They will be euthanized within a week.