The Generative Brain

Transgenic Facility, Department of Medicine, University of Salamanca

The Transgenic Facility is a mouse genetic modification service of the University of Salamanca, part of the NUCLEUS research support platform, with its microinjection laboratory in the basement of the Centro de Investigacion del Cancer on the Miguel de Unamuno campus. It is a core facility rather than a prion laboratory: its published menu is microinjection of DNA, embryonic stem cells or CRISPR-Cas9 reagents into mouse embryos, plus embryo and sperm cryopreservation, rederivation, in vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer, offered to university researchers and to other public research bodies. It enters prion science through one long partnership. Since 2015 a Salamanca transgenesis author has appeared on every transgenic mouse paper of the CIC bioGUNE prion research laboratory led by Joaquin Castilla, eleven records in all, from the rabbit PrP bioassay of 2015 to the mouse PrP L108I model of February 2026. The models in that series are the working tools of the field as the atlas tracks it: TgShI112 sheep PrP mice that reproduced atypical scrapie in 2022, bank vole PrP I109 mice that develop spontaneous disease resembling Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome, and the L108I mouse PrP lines built to carry both atypical and classical strains. The affiliation string has changed three times as the service was reorganised, from the OMG generation unit under the animal experimentation service, to Servicio de Transgenesis within NUCLEUS, to the English Transgenic Facility of the Department of Medicine from 2022, usually alongside IBSAL, the Salamanca biomedical research institute. Information only, not medical or veterinary advice.

Key facts

  • The service was created at the end of 2005 as the OMG Unit under the Vice-Rectorate for Research and the university animal experimentation service (SEA), obtained ISO 9001 certification in August 2007 and later became an independent service that still works with the SEA.
  • Its stated purpose is to give research groups the technical base for producing genetically modified mice; its main users are University of Salamanca staff, and it also serves other public research organisations.
  • The published service list covers transgenic mice by naked DNA microinjection, modified mice by microinjection or aggregation of embryonic stem cells, modified mice by CRISPR-Cas9 RNA microinjection, embryo and sperm cryopreservation, embryo thawing and transfer, rederivation, in vitro fertilisation and collection of pre-implantation and post-implantation embryos. Only mice are named.
  • The microinjection laboratory is on floor -3 of the Centro de Investigacion del Cancer and adjoins the OMG animal house, whose facilities it partly shares. The NUCLEUS administrative address is the Edificio Multiusos I+D+i on Calle Espejo.
  • The cancer research centre in Salamanca lists Transgenesis among the external NUCLEUS services open to its groups, with a named service contact and a link to the NUCLEUS page, alongside the animal facility, DNA sequencing, a DNA bank and in vivo imaging.
  • Eleven prion papers in Europe PMC carry a Salamanca transgenesis author, every one of them last-authored by Joaquin Castilla of CIC bioGUNE, running from August 2015 to February 2026.
  • The affiliation string evolved with the service: "Unidad de Generacion de OMGs, S.E.A. Department of Medicine, University of Salamanca" in 2015, "Servicio de Transgenesis, Nucleus, Universidad de Salamanca" with IBSAL in 2017 to 2020, and "Transgenic Facility, Department of Medicine, University of Salamanca, 37007" from 2022, with IBSAL and in 2026 also the University Hospital of Salamanca and CSIC.
  • The December 2022 paper that reproduced bona fide atypical scrapie in a rodent model used TgShI112 mice expressing sheep PrP with the I112 polymorphism at one to two times the level in sheep brain, with Tg338, Tg501, Tg340, Tg361 and TgVole as recipient lines; the Salamanca author is second on that paper.
  • The January 2026 bank vole model paper reports TgVole(I109)4x mice that develop spontaneous disease resembling Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome, terminal at about 170 days in females and about 200 days in males, with serum neurofilament light raised at 80 days, roughly 100 days before clinical signs.
  • The February 2026 Brain Pathology paper states that two complementary models were developed for the study, TgMo(L108I)3x overexpressing the mouse PrP L108I variant at about three times wild type and TgMo(L108I)1x expressing it at physiological level, compared with Tga20.
  • The April 2025 chronic wasting disease paper likewise reports a new model expressing bank vole I109 PrP that lacks the GPI anchor and is largely unglycosylated, with the TgVole 1x line used for later passages.
  • The English Transgenic Facility affiliation string appears on only five prion records, all between December 2022 and February 2026; the earlier papers of the same series use the Spanish service names, so searching the English string alone understates the facility record.
  • The facility also sits on the canine resistance line of work, the 2017 and 2020 papers showing that aspartic or glutamic acid at position 163 of dog PrP underlies canid resistance to prion infection, which were built on transgenic mouse models.
  • No grant in the papers read is held by the facility itself. The 2022 atypical scrapie paper lists NIH NIAID P01 AI077774, Spanish grants AGL2013-46756-P, PID2020-117465GB-I00 and PID2021-122201OB-C21 and Fundacio la Marato de TV3 ATYPRION 201821-30-31-32; the 2026 bank vole paper lists PID2024-160022OB-I00, Fundacion Tatiana Perez de Guzman el Bueno BN661-FTPGB-2023, JPND-2021-650-130, Instituto de Salud Carlos III PT23/00123 and ERDF EFA031/01 NEURO-COOP.

Timeline

  1. 2005The OMG generation unit is created under the Vice-Rectorate for Research and the university animal experimentation service.
  2. 2007The unit obtains ISO 9001 certification.
  3. 2015First prion paper carrying the Salamanca transgenesis affiliation, the PLoS Pathogens rabbit PrP transgenic mouse bioassay.
  4. 2017PLoS Pathogens paper on canid resistance to prion disease, with the affiliation now reading Servicio de Transgenesis, Nucleus.
  5. 2020FASEB Journal paper attributing dog resistance to residue 163 of canine PrP.
  6. 2022Acta Neuropathologica Communications paper reproducing atypical scrapie in TgShI112 mice; the English Transgenic Facility affiliation appears for the first time.
  7. 2025Neurobiology of Disease paper on bank vole adapted chronic wasting disease in a new anchorless, largely unglycosylated model.
  8. 2026Acta Neuropathologica Communications paper on spontaneous atypical prion disease in TgVole(I109)4x mice, with 25 institutions on the author list.
  9. 2026Brain Pathology paper reporting the two new mouse PrP L108I lines.
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