Mar 3, 2009

 

A wired double-labeled transgenic mouse has recently been created by Dr. Qisheng Tu and colleagues in Chen lab at Tufts University. They have bred fluorescent green mice with mice bearing bone specific luciferase-mediated bioluminescence. Dr. Tu says the fluorescence will make it easier to monitor the process of stem cell treatments—the stem cells will glow, whereas firefly-like bioluminescence will switched on as transplanted stem cells form new bones.

 

The mice have a GFP gene from a coral jellyfish and a luciferase marker from a firefly. By scanning the mouse using Xenogen IVIS in vivo imaging system which allows real-time, non-invasive exploration of genes and cells in living animals, GFP imagine is used to track the fate and migration of transplanted bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs), whereas luciferase imagine serves as a marker for osteogenic differentiation of the transplanted BMSCs because the luciferase-mediated bioluminescence will only be appearing in newly formed bones. This is an exciting breakthrough in studying stem cells as it permits the determination of where these cells originate and how they undergo osteogenic differentiation. It is anticipated that this unique mouse model will greatly facilitate stem cells research.

 

via Science News Online

 

via http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/jellyfish-and-…ent-green-mice/