Thinking big with nanoparticles

Researchers in Oxford have developed nanoparticles that can deliver genes directly into mammalian sperm in vivo. A powerful tool for investigating infertility, the technique could also revolutionise how transgenic organisms are created, write Lien M Davidson and Kevin Coward

The Biologist 63(4) p24-27

Historically, investigations using transgenic model organisms have formed the cornerstone of our advances in understanding the genetic causes of all sorts of biological problems, including infertility. The creation of transgenic animals for genetic investigations is a crucial component of research in the reproductive sciences, and biomedical science more broadly. Research performed in mice, hamsters and pigs, whose sperm, eggs and early embryos closely resemble our own, can be extrapolated to other species to help us better understand complex genetic relationships.

The creation of transgenic animals is usually carried out using stem cell lines or by microinjecting DNA into embryos. Unfortunately, such methods remain inefficient and costly in terms of equipment, time and labour. Moreover, while microinjections are successful at creating transgenic mice, only a very low proportion of injections are successful in other animal models used commonly in the reproductive sciences, such as pigs, cows and sheep[1]...

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