Genomics

Gene knockout in zebrafish. Recent morpholino technology allows us to eliminate the expression of our favorite genes in zebrafish and Xenopus during early development, and is a tool somewhat analogous to RNAi in worms. However, we want the next step, and are taking several parallel approaches to develop the ability to do targeted gene knock-in and knock-out (analogous to mouse technology) in zebrafish. This will allow us to more fully manipulate the genome in order to generate models systems of genetic disorder, including specific cancers and complex heart disease.