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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

In Vivo Modeling of the Morbid Human Genome using Danio rerio
Published on: August 24, 2013
Many little things: one geneticist's view of complex diseases
1Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7525, USA. oliver.smithies@pathology.unc.edu
Abstract:
Gene targeting is commonly used to knock out genes in order to understand their function. It has also been used successfully to model the relatively rare human genetic diseases that are caused by homozygous loss of gene function. Modelling the much more common multifactorial diseases that have strong genetic and environmental causes is less easy. Here, I describe my personal voyage into this challenging field, using gene targeting to alter the expression of genes that impact on hypertension and diabetes.
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