Objective
We are now entering an era of genomic exploration. The mouse is a pre-eminent model not only to map all mammalian genes, but to determine the function of each of these genes. There are now many large-scale projects to create collections of mutant and knock-out mice. However the next step which will add immense value to these collections will be the determination of the phenotype of each of these models. This will be an immense effort and will require input from laboratories and mouse phenotyping centres across the world. For the phenotype to be comparable across strains and between centres, it needs to be determined using standard protocols or SOPs, such as those contained in the European Mouse Phenotyping Resource of Standardised Screens (EMPReSS - www.empress.har.mrc.ac.uk). The goal of PhenoScale is to automate phenotyping in large-scale phenotyping using EMPReSS protocols; with the aim of adding economies of scale, enhancing automated data capture and increasing throughput. The technical development within the project is lead by the SME, TSE Systems GmbH, who will work with some of the leading mouse phenotyping centres in Europe at MRC, UK, CNR, Italy and GSF, Germany. The objectives are: 1) High-throughput Phenotyping: a) Development of a new high-throughput automated phenotyping platform PSS009 using home cage monitoring. 2) Development of new EMPReSS SOPs using PSS009 and validation of this approach with selected mouse models at different sites / European mouse clinics (cross-checking / cross-validation). 3) Optimization of the high-throughput technology systems by advanced interfacing and extended software capabilities. 4) Promotion of the new high-throughput systems and novel established SOPs to other phenotyping centres.
Fields of science
Keywords
Call for proposal
FP7-HEALTH-2007-B
See other projects for this call
Coordinator
W1B 1AL LONDON
United Kingdom