Improve genetic quality control to increase rigor and reproducibility of mouse research

Science. 2026 May 14;392(6799):698-700. doi: 10.1126/science.aec3177. Epub 2026 May 14.

Fernando Pardo-Manuel de Villena^{1

2

3}, James M Amos-Landgraf⁴, Timothy A Bell¹, Matthew W Blanchard^{1

2}, Jennifer Brennan², Charisse Carlson⁵, Dominic J Ciavatta^{1

2

6}, Paul A Cotney¹, Martin T Ferris¹, Pablo Hock^{1

2}, Ian Korf^{5

7}, K C Kent Lloyd^{7

8

9}, Cathleen Lutz¹⁰, Rachel M Lynch^{1

2}, Terry Magnuson^{1

2

3}, Stephen A Murray¹⁰, Samit Patel⁵, Laura G Reinholdt¹⁰, John Sebastian Sigmon^{2

11}, Brandon Willis⁹, James G Xenakis¹

¹ Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
² MMRRC-UNC, UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
³ Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, School of Medicine, UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁴ MMRRC-MU, Department of Pathobiology and Integrative Biosciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
⁵ MMRRC-ICSC (Informatics, Coordination and Service Center), Genome Center, University of California-Davis (UC-D), Davis, CA, USA.
⁶ UNC Kidney Center, School of Medicine, UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁷ Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences, UC-D, Davis, CA, USA.
⁸ Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, UC-D, Sacramento, CA, USA.
⁹ MMRRC-UC Davis and Mouse Biology Program, UC-D, Davis, CA, USA.
¹⁰ The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA.
¹¹ Department of Computer Science, UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

Abstract

A quality control process using the latest technology can help address inconsistencies and expectations.