Ozgene in US deal to advance its GE rodent program

An Australian company will soon be offering genetically altered rodents modified at the single-cell stage to maximise efficiencies.

Western Australian company Ozgene has entered into a deal with United States group Tranzyme to use the Alabama company's proprietary technology to clone genes of interest into animals.

While the TranzEmbryo technology is applicable to genetic modification of mammals ranging from mice to monkeys, Ozgene will use it to create mice and rats for the global research market.

This technology, which has been exclusively licensed to Ozgene, enables the creation of genetically altered animals without the need to insert a needle into the embryo, which can result in death of the developing foetus.

Tranzyme and Ozgene, who jointly developed the technology through an earlier research and development agreement, said TranzEmbryo was expected to dramatically broaden the types of animals that could be genetically altered and could generate cost savings through enhanced efficiency.

Ozgene CEO Dr Frank Koentgen said previous methods of cloning genes limited the choice of animals that could be created.

"Until the development of the TranzEmbryo technology, the cloning of genes into animals relied on techniques of microinjection and nuclear transplantation, both of which are extremely inefficient and limit the choice of animals," Koentgen said.

"Using TranzEmbryo, we can introduce desirable genes into single-cell stage embryos of virtually any mammalian species, from mice to sheep to monkeys."

The latest deal follows an ongoing R&D collaboration struck by the two companies in January. At that time, the companies unveiled a lentiviral vector called TranzVector as a novel method for genetically modifying animals.

This platform forms the basis of the latest announcement of TranzEmbryo, which marries Tranzymes's technology with Ozgene's transgenic animal production capabilities.

Tranzyme CEO Dr Vipin Garg said the new technology allowed the scientists to create models in species that were deemed most appropriate pathophysiologically.

"Keeping in focus with Tranzyme's internal drug discovery platform, we intend to utilise TranzEmbryo technology for the development of proprietary animal models that are of particular relevance in modelling diseases of the brain and its related organs, including the eye and ear," Garg said.

The company's vice-president of research and development, Dr Ram Ramabhadran, said the system offered a high implantation success rate because it avoided manipulations that could be harmful to the embryos.

"Now we can clone specific genes of therapeutic interest and build animal models for a breadth of diseases that cannot be accurately modelled today," he said.

"Such models will also assist in testing drugs for safety and efficacy in animals that are preferred for these purposes by the [US Food and Drug Administration] and other regulatory agencies."