Health Relevance

Humans share most of their genes with mice. Because of this, the laboratory mouse has helped scientists understand much about normal human biology and many diseases. The Knockout Mouse Phenotyping Program (KOMP2) is ambitiously aiming to broadly study not just one or two genes, but all the genes in mice by individually “knocking out” or deleting each gene in the mouse genome. Knocking out the activity of a gene provides valuable clues about what that gene normally does. Consequently, observing the characteristics of knockout mice gives researchers information that can be used to better understand how a similar gene may cause or contribute to disease in humans. Overall, this effort will help scientists explain the genetic basis of many different types of diseases, including rare diseases that have been under-studied as well as some common chronic diseases that affect much of our population.

Make sure to check out the highlights section on the website to see exciting new advancements from KOMP2!