Gene Targeting Facility

The ability to introduce a foreign gene into mice, thus generating a genetically altered (transgenic) individual, is one of the major advances in genetics and developmental biology in recent years. The technology has now become widely used and has allowed a large number of fundamental biological questions to be addressed which could not have been tackled by other means. Because of their role as model organisms for genetic and developmental studies, mice have been the most widely used organisms for transgenic studies. Of particular importance is the fact that the transgene integrates into the germline of the founder animal, it will be present in every cell in transgenic animals from the Fl generation. Thus, transgenic technology allows the behavior of a gene to be studied through out the programs of development in the live animal. This provides the means for precisely defining the regulatory elements which give rise to the pattern of expression of a gene during development. This contrasts with the situation in cell transfection systems where the gene is introduced as a naked template into the cell that will express it. This gene targeting core facility will provide service for all faculty members of the University, although the priority will be given to members of the bone group of Oral Biology. The cost for rederivation is $600.00 per line mouse, and for transgenic mice is $2,500 per construct.