New Parkinson's Disease Mouse Model Resource
JAX® NOTES Issue 506, Summer 2007
We recently received a new grant from an anonymous foundation to develop a Parkinson's Disease Mouse Model Repository for researching the basic pathophysiology of and testing new therapies for Parkinson's disease. The Repository currently includes alpha and beta-synuclein knockout lines, and strain B6;C3H-Tg(SNCA)83Vle/J (004479), a transgenic line expressing a mutant form of human alpha-synuclein that displays age-dependent motor impairments and pathological lesions similar to those in human Parkinson's. It also includes "tool" strains, such as transgenics that express marker genes in affected brain regions and strains with systems for regulating gene expression (e.g. cre recombinase and tet-inducible promoters) in specific types of neurons. Funds from the new grant will be used to import, develop, and distribute additional Parkinson's models and tool strains.
Dr. Michael Sasner, who has a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Connecticut and has been with us since 1998, will serve as a resource for scientists seeking information about existing models and will oversee the selection, importation, and distribution of new models. Dr. Sasner also coordinates the Alzheimer's Disease Mouse Model Resource. If you have questions or information about potential new strains for the Parkinson's Disease Repository, please contact Dr. Sasner at mike.sasner@jax.org. You can find more information and a list of strains currently in the Repository.
