Knockout Mouse Project (KOMP)

About KOMP

• Brief Overview
• The KOMP Research Network
• Roles and data flow within the KOMP production pipeline

KOMP is a trans-NIH initiative to generate, together with the other members of the International Knockout Mouse Consortium (IKMC), a public resource of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells containing a null mutation in every gene in the mouse genome. By using two complementary targeting strategies, KOMP produces both conditional and constitutional mutants.

For more details see the NIH KOMP Home Page

Recent Publications:

• Commentary in Cell: A Mouse for All Reasons
• Commentary in Cell: A New Partner for the International Knockout Mouse Consortium

The KOMP Research Network consists of:

• 2 KOMP Production Centers that generate knockout ES cells and, to a limited extent, knockout mice;
  • CSD, a collaborative team at the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine , led by Pieter deJong, Ph.D., CHORI, along with K. C. Kent Lloyd, D.V.M., Ph.D., UC Davis; and Allan Bradley, Ph.D. FRS, and William Skarnes, Ph.D., at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute;
  • a team at the VelociGene division of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., led by David Valenzuela, Ph.D. and George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D.
• The KOMP Data Coordination Center, centered at The Jackson Laboratory, led by Martin Ringwald, Ph.D., along with Jim Kadin, Ph.D., Janan Eppig, Ph.D. and Carol Bult, Ph.D.;
• The KOMP Repository, a collaborative effort between the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and at the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), led by K. C. Kent Lloyd, D.V.M., Ph.D., UC Davis and Pieter deJong, Ph.D., CHORI.;
• Research Groups led by Klaus Kaestner, Ph.D, University of Pennsylvania, Andras Nagy, Ph.D., Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital, and at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. that develop methods to improve the efficiency of creating knockout C57BL/6 ES cell lines.

The KOMP Research Network receives guidance from:

• The NIH KOMP Working Group, consisting of program staff from each of the NIH institutes supporting the KOMP initiative.
• The Panel of Scientific Consultants responsible for reviewing and evaluating the progress of the members of the KOMP Research Network

The KOMP Data Coordination Center (KOMP DCC) is the central database resource for coordinating mouse gene targeting within KOMP. Data and tools provided by the DCC are used by KOMP administrators at NIH to prioritize new mouse genes for knockout experiments and assign them to KOMP production centers. The DCC tracks progress of the knockout production pipelines, collects, standardizes, and integrates KOMP data and makes the data available to all KOMP participants. The DCC also serves as the central public interface for the KOMP and provides web-based query and display tools for KOMP data. In addition, the website provides a tool for the scientific community to nominate genes of interest to be knocked-out by the KOMP. Using complementary targeting strategies, the two KOMP Production Centers CSD and Regeneron design and create targeting vectors, mutant ES cell lines and, to some extent, mutant mice, embryos or sperm and transfer these materials to the KOMP Repository. The KOMP Repository archives, maintains, and distributes KOMP products. Researchers can order products and get product information from the Repository. Researchers can also express interest in products that are still in the pipeline. They will then receive email notification as soon as these KOMP products are available for distribution.