top of page

INFRAFRONTIER2020 Project
Trans-national Access call - April 2018

INFRAFRONTIER2020 Project
Trans-national Access call - April 2018

Precision mammalian model development / rat models

Call information and application form

Context and aim of the call

INFRAFRONTIER is the European Research Infrastructure for phenotyping and archiving of model mammalian genomes. The INFRAFRONTIER Research Infrastructure provides access to first-class tools and data for biomedical research and thereby contributes to improving the understanding of gene function in human health and disease using rodent models. The core services of INFRAFRONTIER comprise the systemic phenotyping of mouse mutants in the participating mouse clinics, and the archiving and distribution of mouse mutant lines by the European Mouse Mutant Archive (EMMA) (www.infrafrontier.eu).

The main objective of this INFRAFRONTIER open call is to facilitate access for the wider biomedical research community to the unique infrastructure and scientific expertise of the participating INFRAFRONTIER partners, to deliver novel rat mutant models that will advance knowledge of human disease and will be of widespread use in biomedical science. Many cognitive and physiological characteristics that make the rat an ideal human disease model and choice for laboratory studies in neurobiology, cardiobiology, and immunology. Recent advances in genome-editing technology will be used to develop new rat models of human disease. INFRAFRONTIER will provide open access to all newly developed disease models through the European Mouse Mutant Archive (EMMA). Access to this free-of-charge-service will be granted on the basis of the applicant’s research plans and the potential impact of the proposed novel rat model on the wider biomedical research community.

During the course of the INFRAFRONTIER2020 project, three Trans-national Access calls for the development of mammalian model development supporting a total of 28 projects will be published. One further call supporting the production of 12 mouse precision models will be released in 2018.

More information and call application form: https://www.infrafrontier.eu/resources-and-services/infrafrontier-open-calls/precision-mammalian-model-development-rat-models
Proposal submission to proposals@infrafrontier.eu by 31 May 2018.
Proposal evaluation from 1 June 2018 to 15 July 2018.

Trans-national Access (TA) activity of the INFRAFRONTIER2020 project
Free of charge precision mammalian model development service / Access modalities

- The EC Horizon 2020 funded INFRAFRONTIER2020 project (2017 – 2020) supports eligible customers with a free-of-charge rat model development service implemented as a Trans-national Access activity supporting a total of 6 projects in this call. ​The access unit offered covers the production of a single F1 genome-edited rat line (at least one individual of a F1 genome edited rat line will be provided).

- The model development service using genome editing involves project design, preparation of sgRNAs and Cas9 mRNA/protein, and injection into zygotes to generate F0 founder mutant animals (Sprague Dawley genetic background).

- Selected F0 animals (very often mosaic) will be bred to germ line to produce F1 genome edited animals. Possible allele types that can be generated are indels, exon deletions (< 10kb) and point mutation insertions.

- Newly developed rat models will be made available to selected applicants within an average of 12 months following provision of all required information to start the rat production.

- The generated rat models will be made available to the scientific community. An optional grace period of up to 1 year for rat models may apply, with immediate release of rat resources after expiry of the grace period. Rat mutant lines will be deposited into the INFRAFRONTIER/EMMA repository for subsequent use by the scientific community. Newly developed rat models will be owned by the production centres and will be distributed by the INFRAFRONTIER/EMMA repository using their institutional MTAs.

Costs

The access to the INFRAFRONTIER2020 model development service is free of charge. However, the shipment cost of the newly developed rat models must be borne by the applicants.

Eligibility

The INFRAFRONTIER2020 Trans-national Access call is open and proposals can be submitted from applicants around the world. Five projects must be allocated to applicants from EU Member States and Associated Countries, and one project can be allocated to applicants from third countries.

Application

Service requests for the INFRAFRONTIER2020 model development service can be made via an application form. Applications for the Trans-national Access activity must include a short description of the research plans for utilising the newly developed rat model that is being generated by the INFRAFRONTIER2020 TA service.

Selection procedure

Proposals from eligible customers for free of charge access to the INFRAFRONTIER2020 mouse model development service will be subject to a review procedure. The review will be based on short descriptions of the projects involving the mouse mutants that will be produced by the TA service. A mixed panel of members of INFRAFRONTIER and of an external Evaluation Committee will assess service requests supported by the TA activity. In addition to the scientific merit of applicants, soundness of the proposal and research plans, and the beneficial impact of the proposed novel mouse line on the wider biomedical research community will be assessed. Applicants will be informed of the outcome of the evaluation within 6 weeks after the end of the call for which the TA application was submitted. All applications will be handled with strict confidentiality.

Acknowledgments: Please do acknowledge any support under this scheme in all resulting publications with "Part of this work has been funded by the European Union Research and Innovation programme Horizon 2020 (Grant Agreement Number 730879). The participating infrastructure which provided the service should be specifically mentioned in any publication resulting from the service.

A researcher wearing purple latex gloves
bottom of page