Animal Biotechnology

Animal Biotechnology Group is led by Professor Leena Alhonen. The Animal Biotechnology Group has carried out pioneering work in the production of transgenic and gene-disrupted animals in Finland. Since the beginning in 1989 the group has created hundreds of transgenic mouse and rat lines and also transgenic mammalian species such as rabbits and dairy cattle. The academic interest of the group focuses on the physiology of polyamines. Genetically modified animal models with altered polyamine homeostasis are used to study the phenotypic characteristics related to carbohydrate, lipid and energy metabolism. The animals also serve as tools to study the polyamine requirement in differentiation and tumorigenesis, and as experimental models of some human diseases, e.g. acute necrotizing pancreatitis.

The group continues to act as a core facility for the production of transgenic rodents (pronuclear injection or lentivirus-mediated transgenesis) and for automated  DNA sequencing.