SBIR-STTR Award

To date, chimeric chickens are made by injecting blastodermal cells or embryonic stem cells into stage X recipient embryos, but the frequency and level of chimerism is variable and unpredictable. We are developing a universal recipient that contributes minimally, so that the contribution of donor derived cells to the resulting chimeras is constantly high and predictable. In this SBIR phase I application we plan to generate and evaluate a retroviral vector for the generation of the universal recipient. High-grade chimeras would allow the production of significant amounts of biopharmaceutical proteins in a very short period of time. High-grade chimeras would also allow the production of biopharmaceutical protein when the expression of the protein interferes with the chicken's ability to reproduce. This production could be easily scaled up to production of 100 kg within 1 year.

Thesaurus Terms:
assistive reproductive technique, chick embryo, chicken, genetically modified animal, technology /technique development, transfection /expression vector Retroviridae, biotechnology, genetic manipulation

Currently, chimeric chickens are made by injecting blastodermal cells or chicken embryonic stem cells into stage X recipient embryos, but the frequency and the level of chimerism is variable and not predictable. We are developing a universal recipient that contributes minimally, so that the contribuion of donor dervied celld to the resulting chimera is constantly high and predictable. In phase I of this SBIR project, a lentiviral vector for the universal recipient chicken line and for a GFP control line was generated and evaluated by transducing stage X chicken embryos with a lentiviral vector. The results clearly demonstrated the feasibility of a lentiviral approach for the establishment of the universal recipient transgenic chicken lines. In phase II of this grant application, we plan to generate the universal recipient chicken lines using the lentiviral approach. The project is unique and innovative because it seeks to establish a reliable and reproducible method of compromising the recipient embryos to consistently yield high-grade chimeras and allow the production of significant amounts of protein per egg in a short period of time