Laboratory information management system for COVID-19 non-clinical efficacy trial data / 한국실험동물학회지

Background@#As the number of large-scale studies involving multiple organizations producing data has steadily increased, an integrated system for a common interoperable format is needed. In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a number of global efforts are underway to develop vaccines and therapeutics. We are therefore observing an explosion in the proliferation of COVID-19 data, and interoperability is highly requested in multiple institutions participating simultaneously in COVID-19 pandemic research. @*Results@#In this study, a laboratory information management system (LIMS) approach has been adopted to systemically manage various COVID-19 non-clinical trial data, including mortality, clinical signs, body weight, body temperature, organ weights, viral titer (viral replication and viral RNA), and multiorgan histopathology, from multiple institutions based on a web interface. The main aim of the implemented system is to integrate, standardize, and organize data collected from laboratories in multiple institutes for COVID-19 non-clinical efficacy testings. Six animal biosafety level 3 institutions proved the feasibility of our system. Substantial benefits were shown by maximizing collaborative high-quality non-clinical research. @*Conclusions@#This LIMS platform can be used for future outbreaks, leading to accelerated medical product development through the systematic management of extensive data from non-clinical animal studies.

Ectopic Expression of Ephrin-A5 Under the EphA8 Promoter at the Anterior Region of the Superior Colliculus

EphA/ephrin-A mediated signaling has emerged as a key mechanism regulating axon guidance and topographic mapping, particularly in the well-characterized visual system from the retina to the superior colliculus (SC). In this study, EphA8 bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) was manipulated to contain a floxed eGFP and human ephrin-A5 expression cassette using homologous recombination method. In the mice containing the recombinant BAC, it was shown that GFP is expressed in an anterior>posterior gradient in the SC. Furthermore, when these mice were crossed with the transgenic mice expressing Cre under the EphA8 promoter, it was evident that a GFP expression cassette was eliminated, and that human ephrin-A5 was ectopically expressed in the anterior region of the SC. This transgenic model would be useful to analyze the role of ephrin-A5 in the SC during the retinocollicular topography formation.