InfrafrontierGR/Phenotypos

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 3 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. Two 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 rat model development service will be subject to a review procedure. The review will be based on short descriptions of the projects involving the rat 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 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 on 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.

· Acknowledgements: 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.


INFRAFRONTIER - the European research infrastructure for the generation, phenotyping, archiving and distribution of mammalian models
https://www.infrafrontier.eu