Master Seminar, Dr. Lluís Montoliu "Genetically modified animal models in biomedicine: from standard transgenics to CRISPR-edited mice"

The experimentation with transgenic animals has shown temporal and spatial variability in transgene expression mainly due to position effects, related to the insertion of the transgene in the host genome. In this regard, the study of mechanisms regulating faithful transgene expression is essential for the development of animal models by genetic manipulation and, at the same time, allows increasing our knowledge on the organisation and structure of eukaryotic expression domains.

The study of the mechanisms, both functional and structural, implicated in obtaining an adequate pattern of transgene expression goes beyond the tyrosinase model being of capital relevance in projects of animal biotechnology and gene therapy, in which optimal expression must be guaranteed. In this sense, our laboratory has developed several transgenic constructs based in artificial chromosomes (BACs and YACs) aiming to improve heterologous expression in transgenic animals. In collaboration with Prof. F. Valdivieso’s laboratory (CBMSO, Madrid) we are producing a new animal model for the Alzheimer’s disease using a transgenic mouse prepared with a new artificial chromosome containing the APP gene.