ADVANCES IN GENE KNOCKOUT TECHNOLOGY
The Innovators and Advances of Gene Knockout Technology
Mario R. Capecchi
Mario R. Capecchi is a molecular geneticist who has been credited for the development of the gene knockout technique. With this technique, Capecchi was able to create a knockout mouse through genetic engineering and in vitro fertilization. Capecchi was recognized for his developments as he was awarded with the 2007 Nobel prize for medicine or physiology. (3.1)
Knockout Mouse Project
The Knockout Mouse Project (KOMP) aims to produce "a comprehensive and public resource comprised of mice containing a null mutation in every gene in the mouse genome." Contributors of the KOMP believe that this production will enhance researchers' understanding of human diseases. The KOMP utilizes strains of embryonic stem cell clones, live mouse lines, and frozen embryos and sperm in order to carry about this project. (3.2)
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is a biomedical research facility. This facility is the prime agency of the United States government that is responsible for research dealing with biological medicine and health. Projects such as the Knockout Mouse Project have been funded from the United States government through the NIH, making it possible to conduct gene knockouts on mice for the purpose of research studies. (3.6)
University of California - Davis Mouse Biology Program
The Mouse Biology Program at U.C. Davis conducts research on the use of embryonic stem cells to breed genetically modified mice, characterizing the effects of genetic changes done on mice. By going through the mouse genome and knocking out specific genes one by one, the researchers in this program can identify how the gene knockouts manifest themselves as a disease. With the striking similarities between human and mouse biology, the Mouse Biology Program can "link their findings to what is already known about the human version of the disease." (3.3)
University of Texas Health Science Center
Researchers of the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth) are using new methods, such as the sequencing of entire human exomes, to explore knockout humans. By observing how certain mutations affect health, UTHealth researchers were able to identify eight new relationships between genes and diseases. They were also able to confirm the already established relationship between gene variant PCSK9, lower blood cholesterol, and lower heart disease risk. (3.4)
Chris Richardson, Jordan Ray & Nick Bray
Cas9 is an enzyme that has been typically used when studying gene knockouts. But it has been commonly believed that Cas9 has evolved to like certain protospacers. However, researchers Chris Richardson, Jordan Ray, and Nick Bray have developed a procedure that be used to easily isolate gene knockout clones. This procedure simply requires the addition of non-homologous single stranded DNA to an electroporation reaction when using Cas9.
Francis Crick Institute
In order to deepen our understanding of the biology of early human development, scientists at the Francis Crick Institute are using the CRISPR/Cas9 technique in order to knockout genes in embryos that are just a few days old. These scientists hope to decode the roles of all the key genes embryos are dependent upon to develop successfully. (3.7)
