NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Jackson Laboratory said yesterday that it has begun a $27 million expansion of its Jax-West facility in Sacramento.
The expansion will enlarge the Jax-West mouse vivarium facility, which supplies genetically engineered mouse strains to West Coast research communities, from 115,000 square feet to 165,000 square feet, and will boost its staff from 132 to around 200.
Jackson Lab's headquarters in Bar Harbor, Me., handles orders for most of the rest of the US.
"To serve their role in research, these animals must be maintained and cared for in environments with limited bacterial and viral exposure," Jax Mice and Services Associate General Manager Kathy Vandergrift said in a statement.
Vandergrift also said that there are "significant biosecurity and redundancy benefits to balancing our production more evenly between our East and West Coast facilities. As our Sacramento facility expands, it enables us to distribute in an easterly direction over the Rockies and into the remainder of the United States."