Rare and Orphan Disease Center
By definition, a rare and orphan disease is one that affects fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States. Because of the small population afflicted by any one illness, funding to investigate causes and treatments tends to be limited, slowing the discovery of potential therapies. Yet with over 7,000 recognized rare diseases, an estimated 350 million people worldwide are affected at any given time.
The Rare and Orphan Disease Center brings together global mouse resources and the expertise of scientists at the Jackson Laboratory for a start-to-finish approach to model development. Our mission is to:
Partner with experts from around the world
We partner with foundations, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and other scientists worldwide to facilitate research into treatments of these less common diseases.
Engineer solutions to optimize research
We engineer new models and enhance existing models through genetic standardization and characterization to ensure reproducibility of data across labs over time.
Accelerate drug discovery with targeted distribution
A cure for any disease will not happen without concerted effort from people around the world. We distribute well-characterized, preclinical mouse models to accelerate drug discovery for rare and orphan diseases.
