NCI Establishes a Mouse Cancer Models Repository and Distribution Facility

National Cancer Institute
Thursday, 22 February 2001

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently announced the availability of a new resource for the cancer research community, the NCI-MMHCC (Mouse Models of Human Cancers Consortium) Mouse Repository. The Repository, located at NCI's Frederick, Md., Cancer Research Center, was developed with guidance from the MMHCC, which serves as the Scientific Advisory Board for the Repository.

"The MMHCC Repository is an important new component of our NCI-funded research infrastructure. The availability of mouse cancer models to the research community is key to discoveries that will lead to new approaches for cancer detection, diagnosis, therapy, and prevention," said NCI Director Richard D. Klausner, M.D.

Although the Repository initially will have fewer than10 mouse strains ready for distribution, the NCI anticipates that the number of available strains will increase to 30 by the end of the first year.

According to Dinah Singer, Ph.D., director of NCI's Division of Cancer Biology, "The Repository is one major tangible outcome of the MMHCC program, which was established in 1999 to facilitate the development and validation of mouse models of human cancer and to accelerate their dissemination to the research community."

"The NCI anticipates that, in the future, the Repository will supply not only cancer models, but also mouse strains that enable the derivation of a variety of additional models," said Cheryl Marks, Ph.D., the NCI program director for the MMHCC.

"The NCI expects that the number and variety of models that can be obtained from the Repository will increase as they become available from the research community and also as the need for them increases," said Singer. The Repository will ensure that valuable strains are maintained as cryopreserved stocks as well.

A list of available strains and the process for new strain submission to the Repository may be found at:http://web.ncifcrf.gov/researchresources/mmhcc/default.asp.

"The MMHCC will continue to counsel the NCI about the community's requirements for access to mouse models, detailed information about them, and their applications for cancer research," said Marks.

Within several months, the NCI plans to activate an Internet site that will have updated information about additional resources and materials created under the auspices of the MMHCC program.

For more information, or to contact National Cancer Institute, see their website at: www.cancer.gov