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sector_ico_Health_trans Human Health

A Quantitative and Comprehensive Atlas of Gene Expression in Mouse Development

025MOU
  • Project Leaders: Marco Marra, Pamela Hoodless
  • Institutions: BC Cancer (Previously BC Cancer Agency (BCCA))
  • Budget: $13195522
  • Program/Competition: Large Scale Competitions
  • Genome Centre(s): Genome Canada
  • Status: Closed

The mouse has been established as an important model organism in biomedical studies due to the high degree of genetic homology between mouse and humans plus the powerful ability to modify the genome of the mouse. The primary goal of these related projects was to create an atlas of genes expressed throughout development in numerous stages and tissues, particularly with respect to during organ development. Normal development requires the carefully controlled expression of genes and many disorders, such as cancers, result from abnormal gene regulation. The key achievement of the MORGEN project is the comprehensive analysis of transcriptional regulatory events that contribute to organogenesis in the liver/endoderm, pancreas and heart. These organs were chosen as defects and diseases in these tissues have a major impact on human health. Furthermore, the project developed and implemented an extremely successful education outreach program to introduce genomics technology into high school curricula and provide BC researchers with teaching opportunities that were not thought possible at the start of this project.