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Our colleagues from HMGU contributed to a groundbreaking pilot study integrating digital brain tools and genetic data. This works opens new paths to understanding rare diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders, paving the way for innovative therapies and insights into brain function.
The INFRAPLUS’s kick-off took place over two productive days in Munich. With lively discussions and concrete plans, we have set the stage for INFRAFRONTIER’s expansion in state-of-the-art in vivo models, innovative in vitro models, preclinical services, and data analysis. All set to get started!
Partners from the German Mouse Clinic (Helmholtz Munich), in collaboration with INFRAFRONTIER and IMPC colleagues, reveal a convergence of schizophrenia risk genes with mouse prepulse inhibition genes. Using hierarchical clustering and weighted gene co-expression network analysis, the study highlights neuronal genes involved in synaptic function and neurotransmission.
A new study by our partners at the German Mouse Clinic (at Helmholtz Munich) and colleagues from IBioBA-CONICET demonstrates that circular RNAs, specifically circTulp4, play a significant role in neural processes. The research used a loss-of-function animal model, showing that circTulp4 affects neurotransmission and brain behaviour.
The latest collaboration of INFRAFRONTIER with the German Mouse Clinic is available on line. This publication shows how standardising quality of life and wellbeing assessment protocols in mouse research can improve the relevance of these studies to human clinical trials. Supported by the CORBEL project.
The second ‘live’ Charlie Consortium Meeting brought together global experts on rare diseases linked to lysine metabolism disorders at Helmholtz Munich, co-organised by the German Mouse Clinic and INFRAFRONTIER.
Under the canSERV Open Call, researchers are invited to apply for a portfolio of services covering the entire oncology developmental pipeline, with the participation of 9 INFRAFRONTIER partners providing in vivo services. Deadline: 4 January 2023
A study conducted by the German Mouse Clinic and collaborating research institutions reveals a previously unknown connection between the DHX9 gene and various rare neurodevelopmental disorders.
A new publication of INFRAFRONTIER in Mammalian Genome is available on line now. Get an overview of the latest INFRAFRONTIER advancements, including services, resources, and technical developments.
New research identified an endogenous factor influencing amyloid pathology in Alzheimer’s disease using the APPPS1-21 mouse model. The study opens doors to novel polymorphism-based interventions.
Mouse models are relevant to study the functionality of genes involved in human diseases; however, translation of phenotypes can be challenging. This paper identified 153 genes associated with heart disease in humans, 151 with a one-to-one mouse ortholog.
Three approaches with a reputation for slowing ageing processes have proven largely ineffective. For their study, researchers developed a new method to measure aging, which accounts for the complexity of ageing in organisms.
The International Conference of Research Infrastructures 2022 (ICRI 2022) will take place from 19-21 October in Brno, Czech Republic.
Suitable animal models are essential for translational research, especially in the case of complex, multifactorial conditions, such as obesity.
This recently published translational study sheds light on the UQCRH gene and mitochondrial complex III diseases. An international team led by researchers and clinicians from Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany, Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine, UK, Newcastle University, UK and University Hospital Salzburg, Austria, identified two cousins with a deletion in the UQCRH gene, which codes for a structural complex III subunit, and characterized a novel mouse model that carries the equivalent deletion in Uqcrh.
In this current study scientists teamed up to unraveled the mechanistic cascade underlying cortical spreading depression (CSD) and migraine susceptibility exemplified in a mouse model of familial hemiplegic migraine type 3 (FHM3).
Influenza during pregnancy increases the susceptibility to infection in offspring In this recent study, scientists of the Heinrich-Pette-Institute, Hamburg, and the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover together with colleagues from the Helmholtz Zentrum München, the Imperial College London, and the Research Center Borstel could show, that moderate influenza A infection of pregnant mice increased the offspring’s susceptibility to infection from other viruses as well as bacteria, especially early in life. Enhanced vulnerability to infection in neonates was associated with reduced haematopoetic development and immune responses.
Scientists from the University of Bonn in collaboration with colleagues from Radboud University, Nijmegen and the German Mouse Clinic showed, that Creld1, the first single gene linked to atrioventricular septal defects (AVSD) of newborn, regulates myocardial development and function in mice.
A new EBRA cluster will coordinate the predictive use of animal models in brain research
The European Union and its member states have been investing in research to better understand the human brain and its disorders for many years.
As part of the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC), researchers from Helmholtz Zentrum München led by Prof. Hrabě de Angelis, have uncovered a large number of novel genes controlling the mineral density of bone. Because bone mineral density is low in patients with osteoporosis, these findings will help to better understand the underlying molecular mechanisms of the disease. The new insight is important to advance precision medicine for people affected by osteoporosis in terms of prevention and therapeutic options.
In a common effort, scientists of the German Mouse Clinic and Turku University examined the immune system of genetically modified mice that develop high estrogen levels in males. Applying in vivo and molecular phenotyping approaches, the researchers showed that an imbalanced circulating estrogen to androgen ratio in male mice feminized their immune response. Furthermore, their B cell function was altered, and the risk of autoimmune diseases was enhanced. The study was published recently in Scientific Reports.
Using a combination of in vitro and in vivo screens, scientists from the Helmholtz-Zentrum München and colleagues identified the RNA-modifying enzyme METTL6 as a potential new oncogene. In line with findings that loss of METTL6 inhibits liver cancer cell proliferation and impaired colony formation capacity, low expression of METTL6 correlates with increased survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
Inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate 3-kinase-A (ITPKA) is the neuronal isoform of ITPKs and exhibits both actin bundling and InsP3kinase activity. In addition to neurons, ITPKA is ectopically expressed in tumor cells, where its oncogenic activity increases tumor cell malignancy. This raise the question, if inhibition of ITPKA could reduce oncogenic activity. However, prior to developing ITPKA specific inhibitors for treatment of cancer patients, it has to be excluded that ITPKA exhibits essential functions in non-tumor cells.
An international team of researchers lead by Helmholtz Zentrum München uncovered the molecular mechanisms that link rRNA methylation to development and disease. The study was published in “Genes & Development”.
Munich / Salt Lake City – The role for iron in the pathogenesis of diabetes is on debate. While the consequences of excess iron in β-cell function and survival are established, the effects of iron deficiency on β-cell function and diabetes risk in humans are not yet fully understood.
“The application of artificial intelligence is the next big step to discover new ground in our massive biomedical data sets. We have to make use of this disruptive technology now”, says Prof. Dr. Martin Hrabĕ de Angelis, director at the Helmholtz Center Munich and coordinator of the pan-European project “INFRAFRONTIER”.
GV-SOLAS, the German Society for Laboratory Animal Research, is Europe´s oldest and largest association of animal research experts of all kind –scientists, veterinary doctors, animal keepers, and operators of animal facilities. Its annual meeting 2018 was held on 12 to 14 September in Munich.
Scientists have identified a network of genes that could play a vital role in the development of metabolic diseases such as diabetes
This is the first stakeholder meeting of INFRAFRONTIER, the European Research Infrastructure for phenotyping and archiving of model mammalian genomes. The meeting will be jointly organized with the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC, www.mousephenotype.org) to which INFRAFRONTIER is contributing. Focus of this meeting is on ‘Advancing Personalised Medicine with Animal Models’. The meeting is open to a wide range of INFRAFRONTIER stakeholders including Personalised Medicine initiatives, Rare Disease networks, funders, regulators and the INFRAFRONTIER user community to discuss advances in CRISPR/Cas9 technology to model human conditions.
INFRAFRONTIER, the European Research Infrastructure for phenotyping and archiving of model mammalian genomes, offers an excellent training opportunity in mouse metabolic phenotyping. The course will be run by the German Mouse Clinic (GMC) based at the Helmholtz Centre Munich (https://www.mouseclinic.de/index.html), and will cover state of the art phenotyping assays used in the energy metabolism, diabetes, clinical chemistry and pathology screens of the GMC. All assays are routinely applied in systemic phenotyping projects of the GMC, and in part also in the phenotyping pipeline of the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC). The course will be run by highly experienced scientists of the GMC, and involve presentations and extensive discussions of assays, experimental design and data analyses.
Scientists at Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU), in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), have shown that diet-induced obesity and diabetes can be epigenetically inherited by the offspring via both the oocytes and the sperm.
The results were published in Nature Genetics and have received broad international media attention.
The function of the majority of genes in the mouse and human genomes remains unknown. The mouse embryonic stem cell knockout resource provides a basis for the characterization of relationships between genes and phenotypes. The EUMODIC consortium developed and validated robust methodologies for the broad-based phenotyping of knockouts through a pipeline comprising 20 disease-oriented platforms. This consortium developped new statistical methods for pipeline design and data analysis aimed at detecting reproducible phenotypes with high power.
The management system of German Mouse Clinic has been successfully audited and certified by TÜV SÜD according to the Quality Management System Standards EN ISO 9001: 2008.
Reproducibility and traceability of analytical data, documentation, transparency and continuity are the cornerstones of the German Mouse Clinic quality management system. The certification reflects the German Mouse Clinic commitment to promote research activities at the highest level in science and scientific standards.
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enOway guarantees freedom to operate (FTO) and offers important time gain in conditional knockout development time for industry scientists.
In a formal act authenticated by a notary in Munich, four founding members acquired shares of the INFRAFRONTIER GmbH: the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) from France, the Biomedical Sciences Research Center ‘Alexander Fleming’ from Greece, the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Acedemy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and the University of Oulu in Finland.
