Overall PGA Program

Brief Description of this PGA:

The NHLBI-Bay Area Functional Genomics Consortium will use gene-trap vectors to inactivate thousands of genes in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells and make them freely available for the purpose of generating knockout mice. The Consortium involves several San Francisco Bay Area research institutions: The J. David Gladstone Institutes, the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of California, Berkeley.

The Consortium is organized into nine Components:

1. Gene Trapping in Embryonic Stem Cells
2. Computational Methods for Predicting Gene Function
3. In Situ Hybridization
4. Gene Expression Profiling and Analysis
5. Mouse Resource for Pulmonary Disease
6. Mouse Resource for Lipid Metabolism and Atherogenesis
7. Mouse Resource for Cardiopulmonary Development
8. Cardiopulmonary Genomics Education
9. Administration.

 

The major objective of the Consortium (corresponding to Component 1) is to use custom gene-trap vectors to inactivate >1000 genes per year in ES cells. Each "trapped" ES cell line will be posted on our Consortium's website and will be distributed freely to the research community for the purpose of producing knockout mice.

 

A second objective (corresponding to Components 2-4) is to assess which of the ES cell lines is likely to be valuable for understanding cardiopulmonary development and common cardiopulmonary diseases. To achieve this objective, we will use computational approaches, expression profiling with DNA microarrays, and in situ hybridization studies.

 

A third objective (corresponding to Components 5-7) will be to select a few ES cell clones for the production of knockout mice, for the purpose of understanding genes involved in cardiopulmonary development and disease.

 

The Consortium's resources will be distributed freely to any interested investigator and should provide a catalyst for many NHLBI-funded research programs.

• Mouse embryonic stem cells carrying insertional mutations in a variety of mouse genes
• In situ hybridization images of novel genes from the library of genes that have been disrupted by the insertional mutations
• Bioinformatics analyses of novel genes that have been disrupted by the insertional mutations
• Microarray experiments to define the potential importance of novel sequences in cardiopulmonary diseases
• A limited number of knockout mice will be made from embryonic stem cells carrying insertional mutations. We will focus on disrupting genes that appear relevant to lipid metabolism and atherogenesis, pulmonary development, and commonly-occurring pulmonary diseases such as asthma

BayGenomics Web Site

Email Contact for this PGA:

Updated: September 19, 2007