PolyGene will draw on expanded transgenic rat expertise at TRM Nantes

Rümlang, Switzerland: – Transgenic research specialists PolyGene AG will be able to make valuable contributions to the upcoming Transgenic Rat Meeting, held at the Transgenic Rat Immunophenomic Platform facility in Nantes, France.

PolyGene is world-renowned for its expertise and innovation in the fields of genetic engineering and transgenic animal models. Its activity in the transgenic rat field has markedly expanded recently with its decision to expand its services to the development of transgenic rat models. This has been made possible by joining forces with ImmunoGenes AG, another Swiss-based leader in transgenic technology.

Generating transgenic models

This strategic collaboration builds on PolyGene’s two decades of experience in animal model development and use of sophisticated exclusive and novel inducible expression systems. It also builds on the excellent track record of ImmunoGenes in the generation of rats, rabbits and other transgenic animals.

PolyGene and ImmunoGenes scientists are hoping to contribute to the key topics at the meeting including transgene locus amplification, TALENs, CRISPR and Cas9 methods for generating genetically modified rodents and recent advances in immune system humanized mice.

Transgenic rat advances

They will also hope to make valuable contributions to the discussion of transgenic model advances in the use of gene-specific nucleases applied to the generation of genetically modified rats, along with new techniques and models in the generation of genetically engineered mice. G.

Rats are the preferred animal models for the study of human diseases (or pathologies), such as obesity, ageing, cancer, diabetes, transplantation and cardiovascular research. Rat models show more physiological similarities to humans than mice. Their larger size makes surgical intervention easier to perform and monitor than in mice.

PolyGene’s appearance at TRIP Nantes will come days after it took part in the IMM innovative mouse models scientific meeting at Leiden in the Netherlands.

About PolyGene

PolyGene is a privately owned research institute, located near Zurich, Switzerland, that develops state-of-the-art transgenic animal models of human disease for a worldwide research clientele.

Founded in 2002, PolyGene is run by an international team of scientists with academic and industrial backgrounds, having notable track records in mouse transgenesis as well as in business management.

The focus of the business is on finding and nurturing productive research collaborations that promote scientific advances.

PolyGene is a fully functional production site for the establishment and target validation of transgenic and knockout mouse lines, and also offers co-development opportunities in model building, including rat and rabbit models. PolyGene provides one of the in the world’s most highly regarded professional transgenic services, with some 500 completed customer projects and more than 750 individual mouse lines generated to date.

PolyGene’s strong IP portfolio includes patent rights on innovative antibiotic-inducible expression systems, used exclusively for transgenic service projects, such as the murine recombinant Leukemia Inhibitory Factor ESLIF that PolyGene has developed for the generation of highly chimeric mice.

PolyGene will also be talking about latest progress on EU initiatives in which it is a SME partner, such as Horizon 2020, Eurostars, IMI, etc.

About TRM 2015

The Transgenic Rate Meeting (TRM 2015) conference on “Transgenic animals and genetic engineering techniques” is being hosted by the Transgenic Rat Immunophenomic Platform (TRIP) facility developed by SFR François Bonamy, Biogenouest , TEFOR and IBiSA at University of Nantes.

The two-day meeting is being held at the University, on July 2-July 3, 2015 and will feature an array of leading academic keynote speakers and session moderators.

The meeting will focus on latest techniques and models in transgenesis and genetic engineering. It is intended for Master, PhD and medical students with a background in molecular biology and genetics as an introduction to future work in these rapidly developing areas of research.

It is also intended for post-doctorate scientists already working in these fields interested in expanding their knowledge on the potential applications of new transgenic animal models to pathophysiological analysis of genes or diseases. Over the two days, conference sessions will discuss Genome engineering, ES and iPS applications, Rodent humanized models and Transgenic models.

More information at: http://www.trm.univ-nantes.fr