Modulation of gene expression by viral gene therapy represents a long-standing target for cardiovascular disease research. Recently, Adeno-Associated Viruses (AAV) delivery of a PCSK9 mutant has facilitated the speed at which investigators can perform cardiovascular disease research by providing an inducible model of hypercholesterolemia without the need to backcross mouse strains to the ApoE or LDL receptor knockout background. The CCDS Virus Production Core provides a centralized service for generating AAV particles for cardiovascular studies. The CCDS Virus Production Core offers the production of either pre-made (ex. AAV8-GFP, AAV8 mPCSK9 D377Y) or custom AAVs. This service is provided on a fee-for-service basis.

Many cardiovascular disease models require surgical expertise that can be difficult to develop for individual laboratories and can be highly susceptible to technician turnover. The CCDS Surgical Models Core provides a centralized service for performing technically challenging mouse models of cardiovascular disease, such as the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) stroke model, coronary artery ligation model of myocardial ischemia, the femoral artery ligation model of peripheral artery disease, and the partial carotid artery ligation model of disturbed blood flow. The Surgical Models Core Research Associate can also provide the TSE probe implantation surgery for telemetry studies, and surgical preparation for P-V loop measurements by the COBRE Cardiovascular Phenotyping service in the Animal Models & Histology Core. All services are available on a fee-for-service basis.