Sigma-Aldrich to distribute knockout rodents

Scientists at Sigma-Aldrich's new Sigma Advanced Genetic Engineering Labs in St Louis (MO, USA) will develop and distribute genetically engineered animal models for use in research. The company will reveal the initial animals available as well as its customized rodent development service towards the end of the year.

One of the offerings will be rats with targeted gene deletions, which were first announced in July. The rats will be made using Sigma-Aldrich's CompoZr zinc finger nucleases gene editing technology, which can create rodents with gene deletions in as little as 4 months; a third of the time compared with approaches that use conventional embryonic stem cells, according to information released by the company.

"The knockout rat is a long awaited milestone in the scientific community and we are pleased that Sigma innovation has played such a key role in its development," Dave Smoller, President of Sigma Research Biotechnology, in a press statement. "The potential applications using these rodent models of human disease could ultimately eliminate years of research time and save millions of lives."

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