Research generating and using genetically altered (GA) animals has been gathering pace since the first transgenic mice were produced back in the 1980's. However, over recent years the revolution of genome editing arrived! With these new and amazing versatile tools it is now possible to make new GA models faster, in almost any strain or species and importantly to generate alleles that closely reflect human disease alleles. Concurrent with our ability to increasingly manipulate the genome of mice, the Mary Lyon Centre has been introducing and developing new phenotyping tests to perform detailed characterisation of new strains. In this seminar I will provide an update on our current efforts to develop, phenotype and disseminate mouse models of human diseases.
Dr Sara Wells is the Director of the Mary Lyon Centre at MRC Harwell. In her role she oversees and coordinates mouse genetics projects and animal welfare. Sara is driven by the continually changing field of genetics, its advancements and challenges and is keen to promote technological opportunities which promise to be able to reduce and refine the work undertaken in animal research.