DMMC Course: TECHNIQUES & STRATEGIES IN MOLECULAR MEDICINE

1420-1510 Wednesday 8 December 2004. Houston Lecture Theatre, RCSI

Model organisms Dr Breandán Kennedy, UCD

The goal of this lecture is to discuss animal models that are routinely applied to biomedical research. The advantages of using Drosophila (fly), Xenopus (frog), Danio (zebrafish), Gallus (chicken) and Mus Musculus (mouse) as model organisms will be described. The life-cycle, generation time, embryo development and amenability of these organisms to genetic manipulation will be discussed. An emphasis will be placed on describing mutagenesis screens. This technique, in which the genes in the genome are randomly inactivated, has been extensively applied to the fly/fish models and has accelerated our understanding of gene function (functional genomics).