Ziel
1. Objectives
The past decade has seen the development of new technologies which allow the precise manipulation of the mammalian genome. These procedures mean that it is now possible to mutate any mouse gene to either a null or a conditional allele, in all cells of the organism or only in selected cells, and to transmit such mutations through the germline exactly as if they were classical, spontaneously arising mutations. The extraordinarily rapid progress of the human genome project means that all genes will be identified shortly and that the major issue for the future will be study of the biological functions of these genes. The creation of mutant mice is the only presently practicable way of doing this It is already abundantly clear that such mutant mice are of enormous value both for the understanding of basic biological processes and for the creation of models of human diseases that are the major threats to the health of European societies and the major targets for European pharmaceutical industries Many laboratories are now capable of applying this technology, in the development of which Europe played a major role, and some of them are operating on quite a large scale. However, it is proving to be impossible, for even the largest and best funded research institutes, to retain all of these animals once the purpose for which they were originally made has been achieved. It is essential that all mutants that are created are retained and help in a central repository from which they many valuable mutant animals will be destroyed because of the constraints of space and finance that affect the individual laboratories. The value of such central repositories has been well established by the contributions made by these that maintain collections of the genetically tractable organisms that have contributed to our present biological knowledge, Escherichia coli, Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. Our new found ability to make predetermined mutations in a mammalian genome means that the repository we propose will play a central role in the future of all European biological science. This application seeks support for the first phase of the establishment of such a repository and its associated network. Subsequent applications, in response to future cells, will seek to expand and consolidate the present proposal.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
Programm/Programme
Thema/Themen
Aufforderung zur Vorschlagseinreichung
Data not availableFinanzierungsplan
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsKoordinator
00015 Roma
Italien