Biotech Updates

Transgenic Animals - A Promising Area in Asia

October 14, 2011

An article Asia: Transgenic Animals is a promising niche shows the progress made by universities that have made progress in the field. These include the National Taiwan University which has bred pigs that glow in the dark to enable scientists to study stem cell and other diseases; and National Institute for Environmental Studies in Japan and Korea-based Abnova which have a joint research to address the commercial applicability of transgenic chicken as a potential bio-factory for biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

Transgenic animals are a source of evaluating genetic modifications and are more precise compared to  traditional animal models for studying diseases. Some of the areas where this technology can play a key role are:

  • Xenotransplantation: Producing transgenic animals to meet the demand for organs
    and tissues for transplant.
  • Blood replacement: To produce functional human hemoglobin in transgenic animals.
  • Disease model: To study potential therapies for human diseases. 
  • Genetic manipulation of mouse to create models of human diseases.
  • Screening of bioactive molecules for drug research

View the full article at http://www.biospectrumasia.com/content/041011OTH17213.asp.