George E. Jay, Jr., Ph.D. 



GENETIC STRAINS and STOCKS 



INTRODUCTION 



In this era of rapidly expanding biomedical research, the need for current informa- 

 tion on all aspects of laboratory animal resources is particularly important and will 

 become even more so in the future. From time to time in the past, various listings of 

 laboratory animals have been compiled and made available to the scientific public. 

 The Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources, National Research Council, has 

 prepared a catalogue of commercial sources of laboratory animals in the United 

 States; 639 the Mouse News Letter, 903 an informal publication prepared by the Laboratory 

 Animals Centre, Medical Research Council, England, provides a continuing listing of 

 inbred mouse strains from all parts of the world,f and the Committee on Standardized 

 Nomenclature for Inbred Strains of MiceJ has recently published a revised listing of 

 inbred strains of mice. 219 These listings are of vital importance to the research 

 worker, for they provide information on the location and status of laboratory-animal 

 strains and stocks. 



However, the listings indicated above have not adequately covered the extensive 

 genetic resources existing for other mammals such as the rat, guinea pig, hamster, 



f Dr. G. D. Snell and Miss Joan Staats of the R. B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory, 

 Bar Harbor, Maine, now prepare a supplement to the Mouse News Letter, listing the inbred 

 strains of mice. It is anticipated this supplement will appear every two years. 



X Committee members: G. D. Snell and Joan Staats, R. B.Jackson Memorial Labora- 

 tory, Bar Harbor, Maine; M. F. Lyon, Harwell, Berks, England; L. C. Dunn, Columbia 

 University, New York, New York ; H. Gruneberg, University College, London ; P. Hertwig, 

 Biolojisches Institut, Halle; and W. E. Heston, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, 

 Maryland. 



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