May 16, 2012. One of our ISTT Executive Council members, Tom Fielder, is coming to the end of his first 4-year term on December 31, 2012. As a result, and according to the ISTT bylaws, we are launching the corresponding 2012 ISTT elections for this Council Member seat, to be elected from the four willing candidates identified by the ISTT Nominations Committee to stand for election to the ISTT Executive Council for a 4-year term beginning on 1 January, 2013 and finishing on December 31, 2016. Read more...

May 10, 2012. The EMMA (European Mouse Mutant Archive) Cryopreservation Workshop took place earlier this week in Madrid, May 7-8, at the main campus of CSIC, with an excellent success, organized by EMMA, supported by the EC-7th Framework Programme and co-sponsored by the International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT). Sixty participants from many countries around the world gathered to present and discuss, in depth, the latest approaches, methodologies and techniques available for the efficient cryopreservation of mouse strains, through embryo, sperm and ovary cryopreservation. Read more...

May 2, 2012. A COST Action entitled “A Collaborative European Network on Rabbit Genome Biology – RGB-Net” has been recently funded by the European Union. Why a COST Action on Rabbit Genome Biology? The rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is a key species in biology. Basic discoveries have been made investigating this mammal whose genome has been recently sequenced. The rabbit is a livestock, an animal model, a wild resource, a pest and a fancy animal and comprises a large number of breeding stocks/lines. This COST action brings together experts in all rabbit research areas and in other complementary research fields (breeders, geneticists, bioinformaticians, physiologists, evolutionists, embryologists, immunologists, industry experts, etc.) in order to facilitate the transition of rabbit genomic information from experimental data into usable benefits and applications by means of networking expertise. Read more...

April 27, 2012. The organization of the 11th Transgenic Technology meeting (the TT2013 meeting), to be held in Guangzhou, PR China, on February 25-27, 2013, is progressing well. Prof. Ming Zhao (Southern Medical University in Guangzhou), Chair of the TT2013 Organization, and all his colleagues in the various advisory and supporting committees, are doing a great job and, hence, from the International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT) we are sure that the TT2013 meeting is going to be yet another great transgenic conference for all of us to learn, discuss and enjoy. The preliminary TT2013 meeting web page already informs about the confirmed topics and speakers that will be in Guangzhou. Read more...

April 20, 2012. Members of the International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT) have now the possibility to request their unique Membership Certificates, through the members-only area. Read more...

April 11, 2012. AALAS, or the American Association for Laboratory Animal Sciences is hosting their 63rd Annual Meeting this fall. For ISTT members planning on attending the AALAS national meeting in Minneapolis MN (USA) in November 3-8, 2012, we would love for you to attend our panel discussion on communications between veterinarians and transgenic facility managers. ISTT members, Jan Parker-Thornberg (MD Anderson) and Aimee Stablewski (Roswell Park Cancer Institute) will be part of the panel discussion along with Rob Taft from the Jackson Laboratory and our veterinarians (Kate Naff, Linda Waterman and Sandra Buitrago, respectively). Read more...

April 9, 2012. The Mouse Phenome Database (MPD), at the Jackson laboratory web site, has recently updated their list of SNP polymorphisms for closely related strains across the entire mouse genome. The premade lists, genome-wide, ready-to-use, now include three NEW comparisons containing all currently known genetic differences (SNPs) among C57BL/6 strains, particularly between C57BL/6J and C57BL/6N mouse strains, and their related substrains (entire genome occurrences). Read more...

April 7, 2012. At the International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT) web site, according to the aims of our Society. we care to provide the entire scientific community with as much information as possible regarding how and where to generate genetically modified animals, particularly transgenic and knockout mice, as useful animal models for research projects in biology, biotechnology and biomedicine. One of these resources of information is the World Map of Transgenic Core Facilities, currently holding more than 125 links to web sites of transgenic core facilities located in 27 countries, world wide. The transgenic core facilities can be easily found in a list, arranged per country, or using a useful Google Maps built-in feature depicting the geographic location of each transgenic facility. Read more...

April 5, 2012. On Thursday, March 29th, 2012, our colleagues at Hamilton Thorne hosted a webinar titled: “Optimizing Quality Assurance for Mouse Sperm Freezing and Rederivation using Computer Assisted Sperm Analysis” This webinar was delivered by ISTT members, Lily Reed and Ian Rosewell as well as Hamilton Thorne’s Kate Craig. Read more...

April 1, 2012. The regular and standard renewal process for ISTT memberships finished on March 31st, 2012. All former 2011 ISTT members that have not renewed have been deactivated and their ISTT web resources and access to members-only area terminated. However, late renewals will be possible until December 31st, 2012. Read more...

March 19, 2012. Course on Genetic Manipulation of ES Cells, 5-18 November 2012 Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK. Deadline for applications: 6 July 2012. Course summary This laboratory-based training course will provide a comprehensive overview and practical laboratory experience of the genetic manipulation of mouse ES cells for a broad range of applications. Recent advances in genome informatics, recombineering, transposon technology and uses of conditional gene targeting will be covered in lectures by both instructors and invited expert speakers and through interactive demonstrations.Laboratory work will focus on the culture and transfection of ES cells, design and construction of gene targeting vectors from BACs by recombineering, genotyping of gene targeting events and the practical use of transposon technology. Participants will also be trained in the informatics and practical use of public gene targeting resources being produced by the IKMC (International Knockout Mouse Consortium). Read more...

March 15, 2012. At the International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT), we are pleased to announce our participation as CALAS Affiliate exhibitor in the next (51st) CALAS Symposium, to be held in Vancouver, on June 2-5, 2012. CALAS is the Canadian Association for Laboratory Animal Science (or ACSAL, Association Canadienne pour la Science des Animaux de Laboratoire). The CALAS aims and mission are if full agreement with our ISTT bylaws, therefore at the ISTT we are most happy to collaborate and explore further interactions with CALAS, as we have done, successfully, with other similar societies in the field. Read more...

.

Next TT Meeting: TT2013

.