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Mouse-Breeding Lab Thrives in West Sacramento, Calif.

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

Aug. 9--What is the sound of thousands of mice squeaking?

Inside the JAX West mouse-breeding facility in West Sacramento, it's nothing.

That's because the mice housed in the laboratory are contained in clear, plastic "isolators", where no mouse chatter can be heard.

They're part of the West coast branch of The Jackson Laboratory, a nonprofit research lab based in Maine that breeds specially designed mice for medical research.

Although the California lab is only three years old, it already ships out 4,000 mice weekly to West Coast researchers at universities and biotech firms.

It all adds up as many as 50,000 mice at any one time inside the 40,000-square-foot facility. Up to five mice live in dozens of shoebox-like containers, lined up inside about 80 isolators -- bubble-like plastic containers about 6 feet long and 4 feet wide. The isolators are connected to colored flexible tubing dangling like tentacles from ceiling venilation systems.

It's all designed to tightly control the temperature -- maintained at 72 degrees Fahrenheit -- and filter out particles as small as 1/40 the width of a human hair.

Nothing -- food, water, bedding, the plastic jars used to transport the mice to different rooms -- comes into the isolators without being subjected to sterilization at 265 degree F steam or irradiation, said site director Elizabeth Bunker.

The elaborate system protects the mice from outside contaminants. Some are normal, but others are genetically engineered to have specific afflictions and conditions, such as having no immune system.

A few mice in one litter have Syndrome, evident by their shorter noses, blunt features and docile behavior. In another, they exhibit what's known as "rhino syndrome." The mice are born with fur but lose it by adulthood, gaining the thick wrinkly skin of the horned mammals which the condition is named after. Their nakedness makes them invaluable to researchers looking into skin diseases.

Wearing latex gloves, a technician gently picks them up to point out their physical characteristics. She nicknames one set of mice "Groucho Marx" mice because their splotches of facial fur resemble the famous comedian's heavy eyebrows.

For technicians, it's the only contact with mice they're allowed; all JAX West employees are forbidden to keep rodents as pets, for fear that they could bring in diseases from the outside.

Other rooms at Jax West are accessible only to technicians who undergo a decontamination process and wear full gowns and hair bonnets. These rooms include labs to perform research, such as locomotion and respiratory tests, as well as breeding facilities for seven strains of mice popular to West Coast researchers.

JAX West formerly was a 20,000-mouse facility on the University of California, Davis, campus. In 2002, it moved to its current location in a nondescript building at the Riverside Commerce Center near Reed Avenue.

Its inobtrusiveness is by design. The building lacks any signage and there is no public admittance. Its 42 employees enter with ID badges.

That's because mice research is unpopular with groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who complain that mice research is largely unnecessary and unregulated.

"You can pretty much do anything you want with mice as long as you have a white coat and do it in the name of science," said Jessica Sandler, spokeswoman for PETA.

Bunker said the lab adheres to strict guidelines and the mice are monitored and given veterinary care by UC Davis. "We treat these animals humanely and respect the life of every animal that we have the responsibility of caring for," said Bunker.

The West Sacramento facility hasn't been targeted by animal rights activists, but security precautions are in place should protests arise.

"It's something that's always on the back of our minds," she said.

Nevertheless, among researchers, the demand for West Sacramento's mice is healthy. Bunker said the 4,000 mice that are shipped out by truck or plane each week is roughly twice as many as last year. The West Sacramento nonprofit company said it had $6 million in revenue in 2004 from its mice breeding and research operation.

Bunker said the lab plans to expand its operations over the next few years, but did not elaborate. "The good news is that, as soon as we are complete, it would mean additional jobs, which is great for West Sacramento."

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Source: The Sacramento Bee

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