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European research project looks for genetic basis of human disease
The European Commission has awarded 11 million Euro from the Framework 6 Programme to fund a research project that
will develop tools to allow scientists to use the rat as a model organism to understand better how genetic
variation can lead to disease in humans. The European Rat Tools for Functional Genomics (EURATools) project will
involve scientists from a consortium of 17 research institutes in Europe and China. Together they aim to develop
genomic tools and nuclear transfer procedures for use in research. The four-year project began in March 2006.
The move follows worldwide efforts to sequence the complete genome of many species including humans and rats. Now
that the sequence of much of the rat genome is known, the next step is for biomedical researchers to define the
specific sequence and function of each of the individual genes. The EURATools project will develop the scientific
tools researchers need to achieve this.
The initial focus will be on genes involved in cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, two of the most common
causes of ill health in western society. Identifying these disease genes will help scientists to learn how disease
genes function in relation to other genes, how gene variation affects protein production and finally to figure out
what influence the corresponding human genes have on human disease.
Single variations in the DNA sequence in each gene and the strength of expression of each gene will be explored.
Data interpretation tools will also be developed in the bioinformatics section of the project to allow researchers
to analyse efficiently the millions of genetic variations likely to be discovered.
The results of these genetic studies in rats will be translated to work out how genes cause human diseases. The
research community will then interpret the results to improve prevention, diagnosis and therapy for human genetic
diseases.
The EURATools Project Co-ordinator Professor Tim Aitman of the Medical Research Council~Rs Clinical Sciences
Centre said: 'The project explores the genetic basis of rat disease characteristics and uses the results to
improve use of the rat model for study of common human diseases. We will develop and use tools for finding
disease-causing genes and will then look at these genes specifically to find the mechanisms by which these genes
and genetic variants induce disease. If we understand better the influence of how genetic factors make the
difference between a healthy and a diseased individual, we can also find ways to design new drugs and new ways of
curing and preventing these diseases.'
You can find out more by visiting the EURATools website: http://www.euratools.eu
For further information please contact:
Prof. Tim Aitman (Co-ordinator)
Email: t.aitman@csc.mrc.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0) 20 8383 8336
Dr. Erik Werner (Project Manager)
Email: erik.werner@csc.mrc.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0) 20 8383 8074
Participating research partners are:
Medical Research Council, Clinical Sciences Centre, London (Timothy Aitman - Coordinator, Laurence Game, Stuart
Cook); Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin (Norbert Hübner, Michael Bader); University of Edinburgh
(John Mullins, Ian Wilmut, Austin Smith); Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague (Michal Pravenec, Vladimír Landa,
Vladimír Kren); European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton (Ewan Birney, Xosé Fernández); University of Glasgow
(Anna Dominiczak, Walter Kolch); Lund University (Rikard Holmdahl); Université Libre de Bruxelles (Claude
Szpirer); Consortium National de Recherche en Génomique, Evry (Mark Lathrop, Jean Weissenbach); University of
Oxford (Dominique Gauguier; Jonathan Flint); Autonomous University of Barcelona (Alberto Fernandez-Teruel);
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm (Tomas Olsson); Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (Qi
Zhou); Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin (Richard Reinhart); National Institute for Agricultural
Research, Jour-en-Jas (Jean-Paul Renard); genOway SA, Lyon (Alexandre Fraichard); CXR Biosciences Limited, Dundee
(Roland Wolf).
Integrated Project funded by the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) of the European Union Co-ordinated by the Medical
Research Council, Clinical Sciences Centre (MRC CSC), London, UK (Contract LSHG-CT-2005-019015)
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