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First transgenic sheep made in SouthAmerica announced in Uruguay by ISTT members

Friday, April 26th, 2013
Members of the team at IRAUy, led by A. Menchaca, and collaborators from Inst. Pasteur, led by M. Crispo, are holding several baby lambs (Photo by J. Calvelo)

Members of the team at IRAUy, led by A. Menchaca, and collaborators from Inst. Pasteur, led by M. Crispo, are holding several baby lambs (Photo by J. Calvelo)

Researchers at the Institute of Animal Reproduction in Uruguay (IRAUy), led by Alejo Menchaca (ISTT Member), in collaboration with members of the Transgenic and Experimental Animal Unit (UATE) of the Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, led by Martina Crispo (ISTT Member) and Ignacio Anegon‘s laboratory (ISTT Member), of the Transgenic Rats common facility, ITERT, INSERM, Nantes, France, working in Europe but born in Uruguay, have announced the generation of several green transgenic sheep made with lentiviruses carrying a GFP reporter transgene. These green animals represent the first transgenic sheep produced in Uruguay, and in SouthAmerica. According to the press release and the authors of this biotechnological project, up to nine transgenic sheep were generated last year, 6 months ago, at the IRAUy, after 2 years of work.

Green (GFP) transgenic sheep generated in Uruguay through a scientific collaboration involving the teams of Alejo Menchaca, Martina Crispo and Ignacio Anegon (Photo by J. Calvelo)

Green (GFP) transgenic sheep generated in Uruguay through a scientific collaboration involving the teams of Alejo Menchaca, Martina Crispo and Ignacio Anegon (Photo by J. Calvelo)

This proof-of-concept experiment demonstrates the technological skills and capacity of these teams and institutions in Uruguay, who have been able to produce these first transgenic lambs, and hence, they must be praised by their achievement. In the future, additional genetically modified livestock will be created, aiming to produce recombinant proteins of biomedical or industrial interest in the milk of these transgenic animals, following similar experiments already carried out in other countries. The International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT) is proud to count among its members these three excellent researchers and wishes to congratulate them for their success in their experiments.

First GFP transgenic sheep produced in Uruguay and SouthAmerica (Photo by J. Calvelo)

First GFP transgenic sheep produced in Uruguay and SouthAmerica (Photo by J. Calvelo)

 The most immediate precedents for genetically modified livestock in SouthAmerica include transgenic goats generated in 2009 by the team of Vicente Freitas (ISTT Member) at the State University of Ceará, Fortaleza (Brazil), expressing hG-CSF in their milk, and several transgenic cows generated by a biotech firm, Biosidus, and by INTA, in Argentina, in 2008 and 2011, respectively, producing therapeutical proteins in their milk.

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In memoriam: Frank Ruddle

Friday, March 15th, 2013
Francis (Frank) Ruddle (from Yale Univ. web site, picture by Michael Marsland)

Francis (Frank) Ruddle (from Yale Univ. web site, picture by Michael Marsland)

“Yale scientist Francis Hugh (Frank) Ruddle, a pioneer in genetic engineering and the study of developmental genetics, died March 10 in New Haven. He was 83 years old“. This is how a text in memoriam of Frank Ruddle, who passed away last Sunday, begins, at the Yale University web site. Frank Ruddle was Professor Emeritus at the Department of Molecular and Developmental, Yale University. In collaboration with Jon W. Gordon, from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, at the time one of his post-docs, Frank Ruddle devised and succeeded in creating the first transgenic mice, the first animals genetically modified after microinjecting a plasmid DNA into the pronuclei of fertilized mouse eggs. These seminal papers were published in 1980 and 1981. In order to remember Frank Ruddle’s pioneer contributions to the field of transgenic technologies, to highlight the relevance of their findings among our youngest colleagues, and to adequately assess, in perspective, their fantastic achievements, made more than 30 years ago (or only 30 years ago, depending how you would like to see the case) I am citing here the full abstracts, as they appear published in their respective journals, PNAS (in 1980) and Science (in 1981).

Genetic transformation of mouse embryos by microinjection of purified DNA.
Gordon JW, Scangos GA, Plotkin DJ, Barbosa JA, Ruddle FH.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Dec;77(12):7380-4.

ABSTRACT: “A recombinant plasmid composed of segments of herpes simplex virus and simian virus 40 viral DNA inserted into the bacterial plasmid pBR322 was microinjected into pronuclei of fertilized mouse oocytes. The embryos were implanted in the oviducts of pseudopregnant females and allowed to develop to term. DNA from newborn mice was evaluated by the Southern blotting technique for the presence of DNA homologous to the injected plasmid. Two of 78 mice in one series of injections showed clear homology, though the injected sequences had been rearranged. Band intensities from the two positive mice were consistent with the presence of donor DNA in most or all of the cells of the newborns. These results demonstrate that genes can be introduced into the mouse genome by direct insertion into the nuclei of early embryos. This technique affords the opportunity to study problems of gene regulation and cell differentiation in a mammalian system by application of recombinant DNA technology.”

Integration and stable germ line transmission of genes injected into mouse pronuclei.
Gordon JW, Ruddle FH.
Science. 1981 Dec 11;214(4526):1244-6.

ABSTRACT: “Genetic material has been successfully transferred into the genomes of newborn mice by injection of that material into pronuclei of fertilized eggs. Initial results indicated two patterns of processing the injected DNA: one in which the material was not integrated into the host genome, and another in which the injected genes became associated with high molecular weight DNA. These patterns are maintained through further development to adulthood. The evidence presented indicates the covalent association of injected DNA with host sequences, and transmission of such linked sequences in a Mendelian distribution to two succeeding generations of progeny.”

In summary, they injected some heterologous DNA into the pronuclei of fertilized mouse eggs. This DNA was eventually covalently associated with the host DNA (integrated) and was also successfully transmitted to the progeny of the resulting genetically-modified mice (transgenic), therefore it was inherited as a new DNA piece, a new genetic trait, thereby creating a new mouse strain, a new animal model, a trangenic mouse. Isn’t that splendid and beautifully simple? Indeed, but someone had to envisage first the experiment, someone had to carry out the injections successfully. Someone was first in demonstating this was actually possible. This was Frank Ruddle.

On behalf of the International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT) I want to express my most sincere condolences to his family, colleagues and friends. This is a great loss for the transgenic community.

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Updated program for the TT2013 meeting in China

Monday, January 14th, 2013
Updated program for the TT2013 meeting in China

Updated program for the TT2013 meeting in China

The International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT) is pleased to announce the latest updated scientific program for the 11th Transgenic Technology (TT2013) meeting, which will be held in Guangzhou, China, on February 25-27, 2013, followed by a 3-day hands-on practical workshop on basic microinjection techniques, on February 28-March 2, 2013. The TT2013 Meeting is organized by Prof. Ming Zhao (Southern Medical University, Guangzhou) and will be held at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention Center. The associated hands-on workshop is organized by Dr. Wenhao Xu (University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA) in collaboration with Prof. Liangping Li (Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China), Prof. Jing An (Cancer Institute, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China) and Prof. Ming Zhao.  The practical workshop will be held at the Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou. Submission of late abstracts will be still accepted until January 24, 2013. Standard Registration fees apply until January 31, 2013. Registration to attend the TT2013 meeting should be done through the TT2013 meeting web site. Please register soon to attend the 2013 Edition of this world reference conference-series on animal transgenic technology.

The updated TT2013 program includes the following confirmed invited speakers:

  • Fernando Benavides (MD Anderson Cancer Center, Smithville, TX, USA)
  • Allan Bradley (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton/Cambridge, UK) ISTT Prize
  • James Bussell (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton/Cambridge, UK)
  • Shannon Byers (The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA)
  • Michael Dobbie (Australian Phenomics Facility, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia)
  • Scott Fahrenkrug (Recombinetics, Minneapolis, MN, USA)
  • Malcolm France (Sydney, Australia)
  • Xiang Gao (Model Animal Research Center of Nanjing University, Nanjing, PR China)
  • Alfonso Gutiérrez-Adán (Dep. Animal Reproduction, INIA, Madrid, Spain)
  • Yann Herault (Institut Clinique de la Souris, ICS and IGBMC, Illkirch/Strasbourg, France)
  • Benoît Kanzler (Max-Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg, Germany)
  • Dietmar Kappes (Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA)
  • Takashi Kohda (Department of Epigenetics, Medical Research Institute, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan)
  • Thomas Kolbe (Biomodels Austria and Institute for Biotechnology in Animal Production, IFA-Tulln, Austria)
  • Takashi Kuramoto (Institute of Laboratory Animals, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan)
  • Liangxue Lai (Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Science, Guangzhou, PR China)
  • Jinsong Li (Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, PR China)
  • Ning Li (State Key Laboratories for Agrobiotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, PR China)
  • Depei Liu (Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, PR China) TT2013 Opening Lecture
  • Pentao Liu (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton/Cambridge, UK)
  • Kent Lloyd (University of California, Davis, CA, USA)
  • Kyle D. Lutes (Department of Computer and Information Technology-CIT Faculty, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA)
  • Shoukhrat Mitalipov (Oregon National Primate Research Center, OHSU, Beaverton, OR, USA)
  • Naomi Nakagata (Center for Animal Resources and Development, Kumamoto University, Japan)
  • Catheryn O’Brien (The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne, Australia)
  • Masaru Okabe (Genome Information Research Center Research, Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan)
  • Jan Parker-Thornburg (MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA)
  • Xin-an Pu (The Ohio State University, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, OH, USA)
  • Toru Takeo (Center for Animal Resources and Development, Kumamoto University, Japan) ISTT Young Investigator Award
  • Zhu-Gang Wang (Shanghai Research Center for Model Organisms, Shanghai, PR China)
  • Guoliang Xu (Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, PR China)
  • Bo Zhang (College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, PR China)
  • Qi Zhou (The State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, PR China)

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Posted in abstract submission, animal experimentation, animal welfare, bioethics, general, information, ISTT Members, ISTT Prize, meetings, membership, practical course, transgenic, transgenic research, TT meeting, TT2013, web site, workshop, Young Investigator Award | No Comments »

Transgenic salmon: one step closer to the market

Sunday, December 30th, 2012
AquAdvantage salmon grows faster than non-transgenic Atlantic salmon (source: AquaBounty Technologies)

AquAdvantage salmon grows faster than non-transgenic Atlantic salmon (source: AquaBounty Technologies)

The famous faster-growing transgenic salmon AquAdvantage, produced by the biotechnology company AquaBounty Technologies (Maynard, MA, USA), might see eventually its path cleared to the US market in year 2013, 24 years after it was originally generated (in 1989) and 18 years after the company initiated its application for commercialization (in 1995). This long-awaited green light will come after many debates, studies and investigations, and after having been declared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) a safe food product, “as safe as food from conventional Atlantic salmon” (on 20 September 2010), and with no significant impact to the environment (on 4 May 2012). The last FDA report on environmental safety of the AquAdvantage salmon, prepared more than seven months ago, was eventually made public last week (on 21 December 2012), after an article published in Slate.com suggested political interference of the AquAdvantage’s FDA approval process . Subsequently, several newspapers reported on this FDA’s new report (e.g., Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, The Independent) which appears to be, probably, one of the last steps (still pending the mandatory 60 day period for public comments) before the eventual approval for commercialization of this transgenic fish, after being passed the FDA’s Food Safety and Environmental Safety assessments. If this finally becomes a reality, the AquAdvantage salmon would be the first genetically-modified animal authorised as food for human consumption. These are not only good news for the producing company itself but for the Animal Biotechnology field as a whole.
The AquAdvantage salmon, is a genetically-modified Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) [termed transgenic line EO-1alpha] carrying an “all-fish” transgene (opAFP-GHc2) which contains the coding sequence of the growth hormone gene from the Pacific Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) under the control of 5’ UTR, promoter and 3’ UTR sequences of the type III anti-freeze protein OP5a gene from the ocean pout (Macrozoarces americanus). The transgenic EO-1alpha line grows considerably more rapidly than non-transgenic Atlantic salmon. This genetic modification provides AquAdvantage salmon with the potential to reach market size (4-6 kg) in about half the time required by conventional Atlantic salmon (3 years) cultured commercially in sea cages. This genetically-modified salmon has been described and characterized in several scientific publications (e.g., Du et al. 1992; Yaskowiak et al. 2006; Hobbs and Fletcher 2008; Levesque et al. 2008).
As described in the FDA’s last report, the AquAdvantage salmon would be produced as triploid (and therefore sterile), all-female (and therefore monosex) populations with eyed-eggs as the product for commercial sale and distribution. These eggs would be generated in the AquaBounty Technologies facility on Prince Edward Island (Canada) and thereafter shipped to a grow-out land-based facility in Panama, where they would be reared to market size and harvested for processing (e.g., preparation of fish fillets, steaks, etc.) prior to retail sale in the US. AquAdvantage salmon would not be produced or grown in the US, or in net pens or cages, and no live fish would be imported for processing.

To date, only one single product originated in transgenic animals (ATryn) has been approved by the FDA (in February 2009). ATryn is a recombinant human antithrombin produced by GTC Biotherapeutics in the milk of transgenic goats, indicated for the prevention of peri-operative and peri-partum thromboembolic events in hereditary antithrombin deficient patients. The use of ATryn had been first approved by the EMEA (European Medicines Agency) in July 2006 under exceptional circumstances for the prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism in surgery of patients with congenital antithrombin deficiency. In Europe, a second product produced in transgenic animals (Ruconest) has been already authorised by the EMEA (in October 2010). Ruconest is a recombinant form of human C1 esterase inhibitor, produced by Pharming Group N.V. in the milk of transgenic rabbits and indicated for the treatment of patients with hereditary angioedema caused by mutations in the gene encoding the C1 esterase inhibitor.

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Transgenic Animals meeting in Nantes, France, 7 June 2013

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012
Transgenic Animals meeting in Nantes, France, 7 June 2013

Transgenic Animals meeting in Nantes, France, 7 June 2013

The International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT) is happy to announce the co-sponsorship of the Transgenic Animals meeting that will be held in Nantes (France), on 7th June 2013, on “Technical advances in the generation of transgenic animals and in their applications“. This 1-day event will be the 2013 edition of a transgenic animal meeting that has been held, regularly, every two years, and to which the ISTT has already sponsored the two previous editions, held in 2009 and 2011. This 2013 edition is organized by ISTT Members Ignacio Anegon and Séverine Ménoret, with the help of additional members of the Organizing Committee: Séverine Rémy, Laurent Tesson, Claire Usal, Laure-Héléne Ouisse and Reynald Thynard. The following institutions are organizing and supporting this meeting: Transgenic rats common facility of SFR François Bonamy, Biogenouest and IBiSA. The scientific program of Nantes-2013 includes the following speakers:

  • Bruce Whitelaw (The Roslin Institute and University of Edinburgh, UK), ISTT member
  • Ralf Kühn (Institute for Developmental Genetics, Helmholtz Center Munich, Munich, Germany)
  • Manfred Gossen (Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies-Charite, Berlin, Germany)
  • Yann Herault (Institut Clinique de la Souris and IGBMC, Illkirch/Strasbourg, France), ISTT member
  • Alexandre Simon (Inserm Transfert, Paris, France)
  • Belén Pintado (Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia, CSIC, Madrid, Spain), ISTT member
  • Jean-Stephan Joly (INRA U1126, Gif-Sur-Yvette, France)
  • Krzysztof Jagla (UMR CNRS 6293, Clermont-Ferrand, France)
  • Emmanuelle Charpentier (Department “Regulation in Infection Biology”,Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Germany)
  • Xiaoxia Cui (Sigma, St. Louis, USA), ISTT member
  • Carine Giovannangeli (INSERM U 565-CNRS UMR 7196-TALGENE, Paris, France)
  • Ignacio Anegon (INSERM UMR 1064-ITUN, Nantes, France)
ISTT members are entitled to a reduced-fee registration. Registration deadline: 25 May 2013.

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Posted in animal biotechnology, animal welfare, co-sponsorhip, ISTT Members, TALENs, targeted nucleases, transgenic, transgenic research, web site, ZFNs | No Comments »

Updated program for the TT2013 meeting and hands-on workshop in Guangzhou

Tuesday, November 13th, 2012
Updated program for the TT2013 meeting and hands-on workshop in Guangzhou (China)

Updated program for the TT2013 meeting and hands-on workshop in Guangzhou (China)

At the International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT), we are pleased to release the most updated scientific, technical and social program for the TT2013 meeting and the associated hands-on workshop that will be held in Guangzhou (China), starting on February 25, 2013. The TT2013 meeting, organized by Ming Zhao and his colleagues of the Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, will begin on Sunday, February 24, with an optional pre-meeting dinner and cruise upon Pearl river, the already classical get-together style of kicking off the last TT meetings, where all participants are kindly invited to participate in order to gather, meet old friends and colleagues and get to know new ones, putting “names to faces” in our field.

The scientific part of the meeting will be held at the Baiyun International Convention Center, in Guangzhou, starting early on Monday, February 25, and will progress until Wednesday, February 27, in the afternoon. We have 33 scientific talks from invited guest speakers, with a wide range of topics in animal transgenesis, including those lectures corresponding to the 9th ISTT Prize (Allan Bradley, Hinxton, UK) and 2nd ISTT Young Investigator Award (Toru Takeo, Kumamoto, Japan), generously sponsored by genOway and inGenious Targeting Laboratory, respectively. We have also selected four short oral presentations among the many submitted abstracts sent to the TT2013 meeting. All accepted abstracts will be published in Transgenic Research (Springer), the scientific journal to which the ISTT is proud to be associated with.

Following the TT2013 meeting, and starting on Thursday, February 28, a 3-day hands-on workshop on basic microinjection and useful techniques in animal transgenesis will take place in Guangzhou, at the Sun Yat-sen University. The TT2013 workshop, limited to 30 participants, is organized by Wenhao Xu (University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA), Ming Zhao (Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China), Jing An (Cancer Institute, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China) and Liangping Li (Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China), who hosts the workshop in his institution.

We greatly thank the support from all the many companies and institutions that decided to sponsor the TT2013 meeting and the workshop.

Registration for the TT2013 meeting at reduced fees is still possible until November 30, 2012. Thereafter, standard registration will begin, until January 31, 2012. If you plan to attend the TT2013 meeting we kindly advise you to register as soon as possible, in order to benefit from cheaper registration fees. In addition, there are still a few slots available for the workshop. These will be filled according to first come/first serve scheme.

Looking forward to meeting you all in Guangzhou! Let’s enjoy another great Transgenic Technology meeting together!

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Posted in animal welfare, bioethics, co-sponsorhip, course, general, information, ISTT, ISTT Members, ISTT Prize, meetings, practical course, Springer, transgenic, transgenic research, TT meeting, TT2013, web site, workshop, Young Investigator Award | No Comments »

ISTT survey on production of transgenic mice has been completed

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012
ISTT survey on production of transgenic mice has been completed

ISTT survey on production of transgenic mice has been completed

On November 1st, 2008, the International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT) launched the ISTT survey on production of transgenic mice. This survey was presented by Tom Fielder (Univ. California-Irvine, USA) at the TT2008 meeting (Toronto, Canada) where we shared the outcome of a pilot survey conducted with a limited number of transgenic facilities. The purpose of this survey was  to establish performance standards for the production of transgenic mice by pronuclear microinjection of DNA. Our aim was to benefit all transgenic facilities by establishing officially recognized standards for such measures as embryo and pup yields, rates of transgenesis, etc., as well as the expected variability in such measures. Existing facilities would then be able to refer to independent standards in dealing with dissatisfied clients, and new facilities would have achievable goals to aim for. We hoped that it might even be possible to discover an optimum combination of factors that would allow every facility to improve. Our goal was to obtain data from at least 100 different facilities world-wide. However, in September 2009, when the survey was closed, we had received raw microinjection data from only 66 independent facilities, including more than 17,000 microinjection sessions. Preliminary global analyses from merged submitted data were presented by Tom Fielder at the TT2010 meeting (Berlin, Germany) and, some of these analyses, were reported in a book chapter on “Transgenic Production Benchmarks” from the ISTT Manual: Advanced Protocolos for Animal Transgenesis (S. Pease & T.L. Saunders, 2011; Springer). During 2011 we began to produce the announced customized statistical analysis for each participating facility. This proved to be a very demanding and time-consuming task. An example of such a customized analysis was presented by Tom Fielder at the TT2011 meeting (Florida, USA).

 Eventually, in September 2012, all facility reports were sent to their original contributors. We certainly appreciate the fact that the analyses would have been more valuable had they been completed sooner. At the same time, we hope that contributing facilities will appreciate the enormity of this project, which has obviously required much more effort than we anticipated. We would like to acknowledge the help of our collaborator, Laura Barrios, professional statistician at CSIC, whose contributions were critical to achieving the aims of this survey. Without her expert guidance, provided free of charge, the survey could not have happened.

Now, that the ISTT Survey on production of transgenic mice has been completed, we will prepare summary publications discussing in greater details the main findings and conclusions. Also, we are pleased to announce the launching of a new resource, related to this transgenic survey. We are now accepting additional microinjection data from facilities that wish to compare their performance against the survey’s original data set (66 facilities/>17,000 microinjection sessions). Interested facilities are encouraged to visit this new resource page.

Tom Fielder & Lluís Montoliu

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TALENs and ZFNs at the TT2013 meeting in China

Thursday, October 4th, 2012
The crystal structure of TAL effector PthXo1 bound to its DNA target. Figure 2 from article by: Amanda Nga-Sze Mak, Philip Bradley, Raul A. Cernadas, Adam J. Bogdanove and Barry L. Stoddard. Science. 2012 February 10; 335(6069): 716–719.
The crystal structure of TAL effector PthXo1 bound to its DNA target. Figure 2 from article by: Amanda Nga-Sze Mak, Philip Bradley, Raul A. Cernadas, Adam J. Bogdanove and Barry L. Stoddard. Science. 2012 February 10; 335(6069): 716–719.

Zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) and Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) are two types of targeted nucleases generated by joining the restriction enzyme FokI DNA-endonuclease domain with modular DNA-binding units derived from Zinc-Finger domains or  TALE domains, respectively, thereby providing DNA sequence specificity for the double strand break (DSB). The endogenous cellular systems would then resolve this DSB, through the non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) process, usually generating mutations around this DSB. Alternatively, a given DNA template with overlapping homology around the DSB may be also provided, resulting in the integration of new DNA sequences, through homologous recombination, according to the homology-driven repair (HDR) process. Combining the target specificity of these nucleases with NHEJ and HDR has allowed the generation of a new wave of transgenic animals carrying mutations at specific loci. These technical developments have probably changed, and certainly expanded, our view about how we can produce nowadays genetically-modified animals. 

The great expectation and interest in using ZFNs and TALENs, and their applications in animal transgenesis, will be discussed, extensively, in Guangzhou (China), at the next 11th Transgenic Technology (TT2013) meeting (25-27 February 2013), thanks to the various talks that will be delivered by our invited speakers on this subject.

The use of ZFNs for targeted mutagenesis in mice will be introduced by Dietmar Kappes (Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA).

The use of ZFNs to produce mono-allelic knockout pigs will be presented by Liangxue Lai (Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, PR China), based on a recent publication from his group:

Generation of PPAR-gamma mono-allelic knockout pigs via zinc-finger nucleases and nuclear transfer cloning.
Yang D, Yang H, Li W, Zhao B, Ouyang Z, Liu Z, Zhao Y, Fan N, Song J, Tian J, Li F, Zhang J, Chang L, Pei D, Chen YE, Lai L.
Cell Res. 2011 Jun;21(6):979-82.

The use of TALENs in zebrafish will be presented by Bo Zhang (College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, PR China) based on his recent developments:

Heritable gene targeting in zebrafish using customized TALENs.
Huang P, Xiao A, Zhou M, Zhu Z, Lin S, Zhang B.
Nat Biotechnol. 2011 Aug 5;29(8):699-700.

And, finally, livestock genome editing with TALENs will be presented by Scott Fahrenkrug (Center for Genome Engineering and Department of Animal Science, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN; and, Recombinetics, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA). Scott Fahrenkrug and his collaborators have just published two very interesting articles in PNAS and Nature describing the use of TALENs in bovine and swine embryos, and also devising new sets of TALENs for in vivo genome editing, using zebrafish.
 
Efficient TALEN-mediated gene knockout in livestock.
Carlson DF, Tan W, Lillico SG, Stverakova D, Proudfoot C, Christian M, Voytas DF, Long CR, Whitelaw CB, Fahrenkrug SC.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Oct 1.
 
In vivo genome editing using a high-efficiency TALEN system.
Bedell VM, Wang Y, Campbell JM, Poshusta TL, Starker CG, Krug Ii RG, Tan W, Penheiter SG, Ma AC, Leung AY, Fahrenkrug SC, Carlson DF, Voytas DF, Clark KJ, Essner JJ, Ekker SC.
Nature. 2012 Sep 23. doi: 10.1038/nature11537.
 
Therefore, anyone interested in the latest advances on the use of ZFNs and TALENs in transgenic animals is warmly invited to register for the TT2013 meeting in China.

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Posted in animal biotechnology, embryos, genes, knockout, livestock, TALENs, targeted nucleases, transgenic, transgenic research, TT meeting, zebrafish, ZFNs | No Comments »

What are we talking about in the transgenic-list?

Friday, June 22nd, 2012
What are we talking about in the transgenic-list?

What are we talking about in the transgenic-list?

After 16 years and more than 20,000 messages posted one could ask: what are we talking about in the transgenic-list? What are the topics mostly discussed in this very popular list among people interested in animal transgenesis? One way to address this question is by using Wordle, a program that analyzes a text and extract the words that are mostly used and draws a graphic where the most frequent words appear more prominently.

Download a WORDLE for the transgenic-list (tg-l): small, big, huge.

What you see above is the result of providing Wordle with the subjects from these more than 20,000 messages posted through the tg-l over the past 16 years. Watching the resulting graphic provides a rather clear answer: we appear to be mostly talking about ES cells, mice, embryos, transgenic, injection, IVF, DNA, etc…  but clearly, ES cells is the most popular topic at the tg-l. Intreresting. A simple but very informative manner to present the usage of words in subjects of messages posted through the transgenic-list.

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Posted in embryos, ES cells, information, ISTT, tg-list, transgenic, transgenic research, web site | No Comments »

Penn Symposium in honor of Ralph L. Brinster, Aug 24-25, 2012

Monday, June 11th, 2012
Penn Symposium in honor of Ralph L. Brinster, Aug 24-25, 2012

Penn Symposium in honor of Ralph L. Brinster, Aug 24-25, 2012

The University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine are organizing a two-day symposium (24-25 August 2012) in honor of Ralph L. Brinster, PhD, the Richard King Mellon Professor of Reproductive Physiology at Penn Vet. Dr Brinster, often regarded as the father of transgenesis, was awarded, in 2011, the prestigious National medal of Science for his life’s work to date, and the ISTT Prize at the TT2011 meeting in Florida for his outstanding contributions to the field of transgenic technologies.

This Symposium features talks by top scientists around the globe, including: Richard Behringer, Michael S. Brown (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1985), Allan Bradley (our next ISTT Prize awarded scientist, at the TT2013 meeting, in China) , Ina Dobrinski, John Gurdon (awarded the 2009 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Prize), Robert Hammer (ISTT Member), Kathy High, Rudolf Jaenisch, Richard Palmiter, Janet Rossant, Hans Scholer, Richard Schultz, Takashi Shinohara, Jamie Thomson, Ken Zaret.

Space is limited, register for this symposium here.

 

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Posted in general, information, ISTT Prize, meetings, Nobel Prize, transgenic, transgenic research, web site | No Comments »

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