Services and Resources

A row of Gnotobiotic Mouse houses within our Gnoto Facility.

The NGMP conducts a variety of gnotobiotic experiments on a fee-for-service basis for academic and industry partners around the world. Over the years, we have led studies investigating the evolutionary relationships between gut microbial species and their hosts, the effects of prebiotics and dietary fibers on host physiology and metabolism, and the causative role of the microbiome and/or specific bacterial species in inflammatory disease processes.

The NGMP can perform experiments either within isolators, in a Tecniplast ISOcage P Bioexclusion System, or on individually ventilated cage racks under strict aspectic conditions. Our staff have extensive experience working with a wide variety of mouse disease models, including obesity and metabolic dysfucntion, inflammatory bowel disease, dilated cardiomyopathy, allergy, and cancer. The NGMP can also ship germ-free and gnotobiotic mice to national and international collaborating researchers.

We consult with clients on their experimental designs, provide estimates prior to study initiation, and invoice upon study completion. We also secure all required IACUC and biosafety approvals. The NGMP can perform complete studies for clients or host personnel from client laboratories to assist with experiments and procedures. 

The NGMP offers the following services:
  • Germ-free mouse shipping
  • Germ-free mouse colonization (with specific microbes, defined communities, complex mouse or human microbiota)
  • Gnotobiotic mouse procedures (oral gavage, injections, body weight, etc.)
  • Feeding trials with custom diets
  • On-site gnotobiotic training
  • Tissue/fluid/stool collection and shipping
  • Experiments using flexible-film isolators, the Tecniplast ISOcage system, and individually ventilated cage racks
  • Rederivations
The NGMP currently offers the following germ-free mouse lines to investigators: 
  • C57BL/6
  • Rag1-/- (C57BL/6 background)
  • C3H/HeN
The NGMP also maintains a collection of complex mouse microbiomes with distinct microbial profiles: