BURLINGAME, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 2006--Origen Therapeutics announced today that it has succeeded in developing a robust and versatile technology for genetically modifying chickens that, for the first time, puts avian transgenics on a par with transgenic mice. The company made the announcement in conjunction with the publication of an article this week by Origen scientists and a collaborator from the University of California, Davis on its transgenic technology in the journal Nature. Using the new technology, Origen can, in principle, make any genetic modification desired to the chicken genome, including the insertion of genetic elements for the production of human therapeutics and the modification of the chicken immune system to produce novel human sequence polyclonal antibodies. Moreover, the new technology opens up the possibility of producing chickens with enhanced agronomic traits, including resistance to avian flu.
