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Woods Hole to breed Xenopus research frogs

Xenopus frog.jpgThis just in from Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

WOODS HOLE, MA—The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) today announced

that it has received a 5-year, $3.4 million grant to establish a national resource for the aquatic frog known as Xenopus, a major model organism used in regenerative biology research.

The grant, provided by The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Center for Research Resources, will be a cornerstone of the MBL’s new Eugene Bell Center for Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering. The new center, recently established through gifts from Millicent Bell ($8 million) and MBL board chair John W. Rowe and his wife Valerie Rowe ($5 million) will be a high-impact, multidisciplinary, and unique research initiative that draws upon the special advantages of marine invertebrates and other cornerstone organisms to define and understand the natural processes by which damaged or aging tissues and organs can regenerate or be repaired, and to apply that knowledge to the development of medical therapies.

Xenopus is a major model used in U.S. biomedical research. The frog is especially important in regenerative biology studies because it has the ability to regenerate some of its tissues and organs, including the lens of its eye, and is an important model for understanding how regeneration might be made possible in humans.

Until now, there has been no national resource for breeding these animals, maintaining genetic stocks, providing stocks to researchers, developing new experimental tools and husbandry techniques, or meeting other needs of the Xenopus research community.

The MBL is uniquely qualified to serve as host to the national resource. Widely considered a leader in the life sciences research, the MBL has the ability to both house the resource and support basic and translational research; as well as the capacity to host courses, workshops, conferences, visiting researchers, and other activities that promote collaboration.

The new Xenopus resource will be housed in the MBL’s recently renovated Loeb Laboratory. It was specifically designed to support two different species of the frog, and provides space for the supporting laboratory and personnel needs.

Dr. Robert Grainger of the University of Virginia, a world expert on Xenopus as a model for basic and translational research, is the Principal Investigator on the grant. His collaborators are experts in the field, including Jonathan Henry, University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Sherrill Green, Stanford University, Richard Harland, University of California at Berkeley, Mustafa Khokha, Yale University, and Kristen Kroll, Washington University in St. Louis. The scientists will also serve as advisors to the MBL for the facility.

Gary Borisy, MBL Director and CEO said “By studying this important research model, scientists will learn a great deal about the mechanisms of regeneration, knowledge that may one day lead to developing replacement tissues and organs for individuals suffering from medical conditions including diabetes, heart, liver and renal failure, emphysema, retinal disease, and spinal cord injuries.”

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    Alejandro Correa said:

    In Chile there is a plague of sinister African frogs Xenopus laevis of ugly claws, I think there is a very good resource and excuse to go to catch and occuping them in their quest for further study. On the other hand, this frog is causing havoc and depredation on the herpetofauna of Chile and some species have become extinct amphibians (example Chilean frog Calyptocephalella gayi) and the beautiful Darwin’s froggy Rhinoderma darwinii is in extintion danger.

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