A Mouse Geneticist's Impatient Waiting for the Arrival of Embryo‐Freezing Techniques

Klein, Jan

doi:10.1002/9780470720332.ch15

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

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“…Had embryo-freezing techniques been available at the time, undoubtedly I would not have suffered this great loss. ( Klein 1977 , 306) Other stories followed. Klein had tried to secure rare t -locus mutants form Columbia University, only to discover most had been culled for the lack of space in the animal house.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With another gene he had worked with, there were simply too many mutant strains to maintain. The opinion of fellow mouse geneticists was uniform: as Klein relayed it, “Tell [the embryo-freezing scientists] that we are all impatiently waiting for a practical technique which will ease the pressure on our mouse colonies and are longing for a central embryo-freezing facility in which we could store our stocks” ( Klein 1977 , 305). Cryopreservation was therefore a technological innovation around the corner that would enable geneticists to overcome current limitations to working with living animals alone.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Had embryo-freezing techniques been available at the time, undoubtedly I would not have suffered this great loss. ( Klein 1977 , 306)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Cold Futures of Mouse Genetics: Modes of Strain Cryopreservation Since the 1970s

Myelnikov

Peres

2022

Science, Technology, & Human Values

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Cryopreservation, or the freezing of embryos or sperm, has become a routine part of many research projects involving laboratory mice. In this article, we combine historical and sociological methods to produce a cryopolitical analysis of this less explored aspect of animal research. We provide a longitudinal account of mouse embryo and semen storage and uses in the UK and show that cryopreservation enabled researchers to overcome particular challenges—fears of strain loss, societal disapproval, and genetic drift—in ways which enabled the continued existence of strains and contributed to the scaling up of mouse research since World War II. We use the theoretical lens of cryopolitics to explore three different, yet overlapping, cryopolitical strategies that we identify. All share the ability to ensure the continued maintenance of genetically defined strains without the need for continually breeding colonies of mice. We argue that, in contrast to more common imaginaries of species conservation, the cryopolitical rationale can best be understood as purposefully not letting the strain die without requiring animals to live. The ability to freeze mice, then, had the potential to unsettle who the objects of care are in mouse research, from individual animals to the concept of the strain itself.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%