Transgenic Animals

Transgenic Animals
Author: Louis-Marie Houdebine
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 606
Release: 1997-05-22
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9789057020698

During the past 20 years, transgenesis has become a popular technique and a crucial tool for molecular geneticists and biologists. Transgene expression is now better-controlled and even specifically inducible by exogenous factors. While these techniques have quite significantly transformed the experimental approaches taken by biologists, the applications are more limited than expected and concerns have arisen regarding biosafety as well as physiological, social, and philosophical issues. Transgenic Animals: Generation and Use contains articles on the techniques used to generate transgenic animals and a section on the preparation of vectors for the optimally controlled expression of transgenes. It also examines the use of transgenic animals in the study of gene function and human diseases, the preparation of recombinant proteins and organs for pharmaceutical and medical use, and the improvement of genetic characteristics of farm animals. Finally, it discusses more recent problems generated by transgenic animals including conservation of transgenic lines, specific database patenting, biosafety, and bioethics. Drawn from both academia and industry, the contributors to this monograph present in one concise volume all the relevant information on the different aspects of transgenesis. This book can be used as both a reference book and a textbook for specialized university courses and will be of interest to everyone involved in basic research in animal biology, molecular genetics, animal biotechnology, pharmaceutical science, and medicine.

Animal Biotechnology

Animal Biotechnology
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2002-11-29
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 030916933X

Genetic-based animal biotechnology has produced new food and pharmaceutical products and promises many more advances to benefit humankind. These exciting prospects are accompanied by considerable unease, however, about matters such as safety and ethics. This book identifies science-based and policy-related concerns about animal biotechnologyâ€"key issues that must be resolved before the new breakthroughs can reach their potential. The book includes a short history of the field and provides understandable definitions of terms like cloning. Looking at technologies on the near horizon, the authors discuss what we know and what we fear about their effectsâ€"the inadvertent release of dangerous microorganisms, the safety of products derived from biotechnology, the impact of genetically engineered animals on their environment. In addition to these concerns, the book explores animal welfare concerns, and our societal and institutional capacity to manage and regulate the technology and its products. This accessible volume will be important to everyone interested in the implications of the use of animal biotechnology.

Transgenic Animals in Agriculture

Transgenic Animals in Agriculture
Author: James Dickson Murray
Publisher: Cabi
Total Pages: 312
Release: 1999
Genre: Science
ISBN:

In the past decade, a number of advances have been made in genetic engineering as applied to farmed animals. This book has been developed from invited presentations at a conference held in California in August 1997, to address this issue. It is written by representatives from the leading laboratories involved in attempts to improve agriculturally important mammals, poultry and fish. Current knowledge, methodology, technical improvements and successes in the applications of transgenic technology to a range of animals which are important in agriculture are brought together for the first time under one cover. This book is essential reading for research workers in animal genetics, breeding and biotechnology.

Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods

Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2004-07-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309166152

Assists policymakers in evaluating the appropriate scientific methods for detecting unintended changes in food and assessing the potential for adverse health effects from genetically modified products. In this book, the committee recommended that greater scrutiny should be given to foods containing new compounds or unusual amounts of naturally occurring substances, regardless of the method used to create them. The book offers a framework to guide federal agencies in selecting the route of safety assessment. It identifies and recommends several pre- and post-market approaches to guide the assessment of unintended compositional changes that could result from genetically modified foods and research avenues to fill the knowledge gaps.

Frankenstein's Cat

Frankenstein's Cat
Author: Emily Anthes
Publisher: Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2013-03-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 142994952X

Winner of 2014 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Best Young Adult Science Book Longlisted for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award One of Nature's Summer Book Picks One of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten Spring 2013 Science Books For centuries, we've toyed with our creature companions, breeding dogs that herd and hunt, housecats that look like tigers, and teacup pigs that fit snugly in our handbags. But what happens when we take animal alteration a step further, engineering a cat that glows green under ultraviolet light or cloning the beloved family Labrador? Science has given us a whole new toolbox for tinkering with life. How are we using it? In Frankenstein's Cat, the journalist Emily Anthes takes us from petri dish to pet store as she explores how biotechnology is shaping the future of our furry and feathered friends. As she ventures from bucolic barnyards to a "frozen zoo" where scientists are storing DNA from the planet's most exotic creatures, she discovers how we can use cloning to protect endangered species, craft prosthetics to save injured animals, and employ genetic engineering to supply farms with disease-resistant livestock. Along the way, we meet some of the animals that are ushering in this astonishing age of enhancement, including sensor-wearing seals, cyborg beetles, a bionic bulldog, and the world's first cloned cat. Through her encounters with scientists, conservationists, ethicists, and entrepreneurs, Anthes reveals that while some of our interventions may be trivial (behold: the GloFish), others could improve the lives of many species-including our own. So what does biotechnology really mean for the world's wild things? And what do our brave new beasts tell us about ourselves? With keen insight and her trademark spunk, Anthes highlights both the peril and the promise of our scientific superpowers, taking us on an adventure into a world where our grandest science fiction fantasies are fast becoming reality.

Advanced Protocols for Animal Transgenesis

Advanced Protocols for Animal Transgenesis
Author: Shirley Pease
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 671
Release: 2011-08-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642207928

This laboratory manual, published in cooperation with the International Society for Transgenic Technology (ISTT), provides almost all current methods that can be applied to the creation and analysis of genetically modified animals. The chapters have been contributed by leading scientists who are actively using the technology in their laboratories. Based on their first-hand experience the authors also provide helpful notes and troubleshooting sections. Topics range from standard techniques, such as pronuclear microinjection of DNA, to more sophisticated and modern methods, such as the derivation and establishment of embryonic stem (ES) cell lines, with defined inhibitors in cell culture medium. In addition, related topics with relevance to the field are addressed, including global web-based resources, legal issues, colony management, shipment of mice and embryos, and the three R’s: refinement, reduction and replacement.

Guidelines for the Humane Transportation of Research Animals

Guidelines for the Humane Transportation of Research Animals
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2006-08-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309101107

Arranging the transportation of animals at research facilities is often an ordeal. There is a confusing patchwork of local, national, and international regulations; a perceived lack of high-quality shipping services; a dearth of science-based good practices; and a lack of biosafety standards. It's a challenge â€"and an impediment to biomedical research. Guidelines for the Humane Transportation of Research Animals identifies the current problems encountered in the transportation of research animals and offers recommendations aimed at local and federal officials to rectify these problems. This book also includes a set of good practices based on the extensive body of literature on transportation of agricultural animals, universal concepts of physiology, and a scientific understanding of species-specific needs and differences. Good practices were developed by the committee to address thermal environment, space requirements, food and water requirements, social interaction, monitoring of transportation, emergency procedures, personnel training, and biosecurity. Guidelines for the Humane Transportation of Research Animals is an essential guide for all researchers, animal care technicians, facilities managers, administrators, and animal care and use committees at research institutions.

Gene Transfer to Animal Cells

Gene Transfer to Animal Cells
Author: Richard Twyman
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2004-12-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1135322783

Gene transfer to animal cells was first achieved more than thirty years ago. Since then, transformation technology has developed rapidly, resulting in a multitude of techniques for cell transformation and the creation of transgenic animals. As with any expanding technology, it becomes difficult to keep track of all the developments and to find a concise and comprehensive source of information that explains all the underlying principles. Gene Transfer to Animals Cells addresses this problem by describing the principles behind gene transfer technologies, how gene expression is controlled in animal cells and how advanced strategies can be used to add, exchange or delete sequences from animal genomes in a conditional manner. A final chapter provides an overview of all the applications of animal cell transformation in farming, medicine and research.