Building Blocks of Animal Models: Genomics, Transgenesis and Cloning
The conference goals are to identify areas of study or methodologies that will enhance the utility of pigs as biomedical models. In particular, the conference will focus on identifying appropriate human diseases where traditional rodent models have not proven relevant, where the historical use of swine in this regard may be enhanced, or where no useful models exist today and for which swine may be considered. The conference is organized to identify resource needs and areas in which new approaches or methodologies are required. The conference is structured to stimulate interactions between researchers working within swine and human genomics. To date, these are separate research communities and the conference will provide a forum for introductions and to showcase the utility of the pig as an invaluable model. The increasing relevance of existing pig models for human diseases and the emerging ability to capture genomic information to create novel models has stimulated the organization of this conference. The conference has been organized to permit active discussion and to identify the needs and opportunities for continued exploitation of this animal model.