for assistance call: 1-888-673-3444
 
Temporary Suspension of International Shipping of Live Animals
 July 08, 2024
Effective immediately: Due to continued weather-related issues negatively impacting the safety, reliability, and cost of shipping, we are temporarily suspending international shipments of live animals.   Orders may still be placed but they will not be filled until after September 1, 2024. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

Weather and high temperatures are also affecting domestic shipping so expect delays. The welfare of the animals is our top priority. 
Laboratory Animal Genetic Reporting (LAG-R) Guidelines Published
 July 07, 2024
The LAG-R framework (Laboratory Animal Genetic Reporting) is a set of guidelines to support more complete documentation of the genetic make-up of animals of all species that are used in research, with the aim of bolstering reproducibility, reliability, and overall scientific rigor. See Nature Communications (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49439-y).
RRRC at Allied Genetics Conference (TAGC24)
 February 20, 2024
Stop by Booth 626 in the Exhibitor Hall at the Allied Genetics Conference (TAGC24) in National Harbor/Washington DC Metro Area on March 6-10, 2024 to discuss how the RRRC can help facilitate your research.

GRCr8: A new rat reference assembly is now available.
 February 05, 2024
GRCr8 (GenBank NCBI # GCA_036323735.1) is the latest version of the rat reference genome assembly. See the Genome Reference Consortium (GRC) blog for more details.
Happy World Rat Day!
 April 04, 2023
April 4, 2023 is World Rat Day!  The RRRC would like to acknowledge the important contributions to science and medicine made possible by the use of rats in biomedical research.
Cryopreservation
The RRRC has continued to refine cryopreservation techniques in the rat.  Improvements to intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) now allow sperm cryopreservation for a cost effect means of archiving large collection sets of rats. 
 
Osmotic tolerance limits and effects of cryoprotectants on the motility, plasma membrane integrity and acrosomal integrity of rat sperm.
Si W, Benson JD, Men H, Critser JK. Cryobiology. 2006 Dec;53(3):336-48.

Vibration study of the Piezo-driven pipettes immersed in viscous liquids. Fan M, Agca Y, Critser JK, Feng F. Journal of Applied Physics 2006;  100(7):74701-74708.

Changes in rat spermatozoa function after cooling, cryopreservation and centrifugation processes. Kim S, Agca C, Agca Y. Cryobiology. 2012 Jun 30.