The stem cell facility is claimed to be one of its kind in the country facilitating both basic and futuristic research such as gene knockout technology wherein NIMS role is to provide the patient pool. Meanwhile, Scientists at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) have for the first time succeeded in identifying the gene that produces milk in mammals. The gene, discovered in a mouse, can in future help in producing animals with increased milk yield as well as tailor-made proteins essential for lacto-based pharma industries. This is a significant achievement for biologists in the country. Moreover, this technology can be used to create human disease models and in the drug discovery process.
Towards this, CCMB has created a national facility for transgenic and gene knockout mice in association with DST. With this, CCMB joins the elite club of advanced nations such as the US, the UK, Germany, France and Japan, by creating a knockout mouse strain for the first time in the country.
Having sequenced the human genome, the knockout research gains more significance for biologists through which the nature and its properties of a gene can be understood.
