Mary Lyon Centre - Technical Development
Lead Research Organisation:
Medical Research Council
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
The technology development programme at the Mary Lyon Centre aims to improve technologies used in genetic science in order to replace, refine and reduce the use of animals.
Technical Summary
The Mary Lyon Centre is an enabler of science but in order to do this effectively, at the cutting edge of technological progress, with scientific credibility we maintain an innovative technical development programme. This couples service provision with an research to develop and refine techniques in the fields of gene editing, phenotyping and cryobiology.
Publications
Austin A
(2022)
Sectioning and Counting of Motor Neurons in the L3 to L6 Region of the Adult Mouse Spinal Cord.
in Current protocols
Chenouard V
(2023)
Excess of guide RNA reduces knockin efficiency and drastically increases on-target large deletions.
in iScience
Dyer L
(2022)
Lightsheet Microscopy.
in Current protocols
Hölter SM
(2023)
Improving biomedical research by automated behaviour monitoring in the animal home cage - action needed for networking.
in Laboratory animals
Mackenzie M
(2023)
Transgenesis - Methods and Protocols
McCabe CV
(2024)
Long-read sequencing for fast and robust identification of correct genome-edited alleles: PCR-based and Cas9 capture methods.
in PLoS genetics
Parker A
(2022)
Investigating audible and ultrasonic noise in modern animal facilities.
in F1000Research
Rodrigues A
(2022)
A guide to post-mortem examination procedure in mouse models.
in Laboratory animals
Sanderson J
(2023)
Multi-Photon Microscopy.
in Current protocols
Teboul L
(2024)
Improving laboratory animal genetic reporting: LAG-R guidelines.
in Nature communications
| Description | Leading a working group to design guidelines for the documentation of animal genetics in scientific publications. |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Title | B6.Cg-Tg(Cdh5-cre)1Spe/J |
| Description | Mouse models |
| Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - mammalian in vivo |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Facilities Research - Import |
| Title | DBA.Cg-Fus |
| Description | Mouse models |
| Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - mammalian in vivo |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Facilities Research - Import |
| Title | Publication of a protocol for harvesting mouse suprachiasmatic nucleus |
| Description | Publication of protocol article "Harvesting mouse suprachiasmatic nucleus by vibrating microtome for diurnal transcriptome analysis" in STAR Protocols, describing a novel way of harvesting mouse suprachiasmatic nuclei. The authors utilised the expertise of the staff at the Mary Lyon Centre, who looked after the mice used in this study. |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Impacts include the provision of a new protocol to the scientific research community and awareness of the high level of expertise available at the Mary Lyon Centre at MRC Harwell. |
| URL | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666166723005853?via%3Dihub |
| Description | A project to investigate maternal behaviours in a GA model using image analysis and home cage monitoring technologies. |
| Organisation | King's College London |
| Department | Department of Medical & Molecular Genetics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The researcher will have access to the MLC's cutting edge AI analysis tools and in collaboration with the researcher will develop new methods to investigate maternal behaviours in the home cage and over multiple days. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The researcher will bring in scientific expertise and their research question. |
| Impact | This multidisciplinary collaboration has just started and the impact will be reported in next year's report. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Anomaly Detection |
| Organisation | University of Lincoln |
| Department | Laboratory of Vision Engineering |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Proving scientific advice and data to the PhD studentship |
| Collaborator Contribution | Development of anomaly detection algorithm |
| Impact | Preliminary algorithm for anomaly detection developed. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | MH Social separation Data |
| Organisation | University of Osijek |
| Country | Croatia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Provided longitudinal spatiotemporal data for building bespoke analysis tool. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Created a test version of spatiotemporal data analysis for social behaviours. |
| Impact | Pilot analysis tool being developed. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Multianimal pose estimation |
| Organisation | Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Longitudinal data in the form of video files shared with collaborator in order to develop a non-invasive image recognition algorithm. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Collaborator has been working on recognition of individual mice over multiple recording sessions in videos of group housed mice. |
| Impact | Preliminary algorithm has been developed as proof of principle. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Two Generation Research Masters by Research studentships awarded in collaboration with University of York |
| Organisation | University of York |
| Department | Bioscience Technology Facility |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Mary Lyon Centre has provided the image data, and will provide ground truth data. In addition to scientific Direction of this informatics and Machine learning project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The two supervisors at the University of York, will provide technical direction and key technical and computational skills to the two students, in order to create a machine learning analysis tool for investigating food and water intake in the home cage. |
| Impact | This multidisciplinary partnership started in January 2024, the outcomes and impact will be reported in next year's report. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | FD-training on use of HCA |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Student and PI reached out to request help with equipment set up and experimental design. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Genome editing and model validation at CSHL conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | poster on the subject |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Genome editing and model validation at the CRISPR meeting in Bordeaux |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | technical talk on genome editing at a relevant conference |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Genome editing and model validation at the Francis Crick Institute |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Technical talk on genome editing |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Hosted a Senior Technician from the University of Massey, New Zealand |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | NW is a Senior Technician in the School of Veterinary Science at Massey University, the University of New Zealand. N's Primary goal was to understand the welfare practices in a laboratory animals. Their special expertise is in data recordings systems and computer aided learning, therefore the use of remote welfare monitoring systems was of particular interest and this started a detailed conversation on how they envision presenting a case to policy makers in their home institution to invest in these best practices. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | TAGG |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Lydia Teboul presented a poster at TAGG about improving laboratory animal genetics reporting. The TAGG event is to discuss cutting-edge research in areas like genomics, neurogenetics, and technology, there are abundant opportunities to meet scientists from across the world, discussing important topics like equity and inclusion, undergraduate education and professional development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://genetics-gsa.org/worm-2025/about-tagc-2024/ |
| Description | Talk At Felasa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Activity was aimed at sharing new insights using technology developed at MLC with international colleagues. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Talk at Lasa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A national audience of laboratory animal scientists engaged with the talk, sparking discussions and potential collaboration opportunities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Talk in Milan |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Experts in field of Home cage shared insights into new and emerging technologies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | genome editing and model validation talk at Celphedia meeting in Strasbourg |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | talk on the subject |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | genome editing and model validation talk at Genome Editing meeting in London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | talk on the subject |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |