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Genetically modified monkeys in China
In photo: five macaques cloned in a research institution in Shanghai.
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Reuters
What is the need
Chinese scientists have cloned five monkeys from a modified gene macaque with circadian rhythm disorders related to sleep problems, depression and Alzheimer's disease.
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Reuters
Several clones
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Reuters
Born at the Institute of Neuroscience of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
The researchers said this advance meant that a population of personalized monkey models with modified genes and a uniform genetic background would be available for biomedical research.
In the photo: a laboratory technician holds in a laboratory of the Institute of Neuroscience of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, China, a macaque with genes and circadian rhythm disorders.
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Reuters
What is the circadian rhythm?
Previously, mice and flies were widely used for research on such diseases, but these animal models differ greatly from human beings in terms of activity routines, brain structure and metabolic rates.
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AFP
How to create an ideal donor monkey
In order to create an ideal donor monkey, the researchers eliminated BMAL1, a central regulatory circadian transcription factor, by means of gene editing at the embryonic stage.
They selected as donor one of the modified gene monkeys exhibiting the most serious disease phenotypes. Donor fibroblasts were then used to clone five monkeys by somatic cell nuclear transfer, the same method used to generate Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, the first cloned monkeys born in China in late 2017.
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AFP
A cloned macaque
In addition to being used to study diseases of the human brain, the models will also be used to test drug efficacy, which can help reduce the number of animal models used in experiments and reduce development costs. medication.
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AFP
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