Final Report Summary - SOMABIO (Easy and rapid generation of light-emitting somatic-transgenic mice to monitor specific disease states and to screen effective drugs)
In this project, we developed a library of molecular delivery vehicles, known as “vectors” to deliver DNA to specific cells and tissues in young rodents in a targeted way. This DNA encodes firefly luciferase, and contains regulatory elements which are activated or deactivated in different disease states. We have shown that we can deliver these vectors to a range of rodent tissues (liver, brain, lung, skin, paw) and they retain the luciferase DNA, stably, for many months. We can measure the emission of light from these animals using a highly sensitive camera. This technology allows us to monitor different molecular pathways in live mice, continually and non-invasively. This provides a real-time readout of progression of disease models, and the effectiveness of different drug treatments.