Genetically modified mouse

[2] GEMMs are also of great interest for drug development, as they facilitate target validation and the study of response, resistance, toxicity and pharmacodynamics.

In 1981 the laboratories of Frank Ruddle[5] from Yale University, Frank Costantini and Elizabeth Lacy from Oxford, and Ralph L. Brinster and Richard Palmiter in collaboration from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Washington injected purified DNA into a single-cell mouse embryo utilizing techniques developed by Brinster in the 1960s and 1970s, showing transmission of the genetic material to subsequent generations for the first time.

[6][7][8] During the 1980s, Palmiter and Brinster developed and led the field of transgenesis, refining methods of germline modification and using these techniques to elucidate the activity and function of genes in a way not possible before their unique approach.

Embryonic stem cells that recombine with the genomic DNA are selected for and they are then injected into the mice blastocysts.

For example, genetically modified mice may be born with human leukocyte antigen genes in order to provide a more realistic environment when introducing human white blood cells into them in order to study immune system responses.

[15] The most common type is the knockout mouse, where the activity of a single (or in some cases multiple) genes are removed.