HITCHING HUNK: A FORWARD GENETICS APPROACH FOR MUTAGENESIS IN MOUSE BASED ON GENETIC SELECTION OF INSERTIONAL EVENTS

Most projects that aim to produce animal models of human pathologies are based on lengthy and expensive procedures. Moreover, most animal models generated in this way will be either trivial, or completely impredictable. Our project aims to produce mutations by the thousands in mice, at a low cost and rapidly, without relying on accumulated knowledge or haphazard predictions. This mutant collection will be made accessible to the scientific community and will make redundant the current technologies to produce mutations one by one. We should be able to generate a mutation in a different gene in every mouse, and will identify the mutated gene as a simple routine. The mutations that we will generate will help scientists clarify the function of every single gene.