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Indian scientists have developed transgenic sperms to help mice give birth to genetically modified (GM) pups. NII scientist Subeer S Majumdar's effort is expected to boost clinical research and drug development across the world.

A team of scientists successfully inserted human genes inside the testes of male mice, and integrated it with the chromosome of the germ cells. Thus they have created transgenic sperms in a natural manner.

scientists at the National Institute of Immunology (NII) have developed a new method that uses a process called in vivo electroporation, in which the foreign gene was introduced to the mice testes by passing a mild current for a fraction of a second.

Thus, a male mouse now just needs to mate with a female counterpart to produce transgenic pups on a regular basis.

Dr. Subeer Majumdar quoted, “Ours is a completely new technique of developing transgenic mice without killing hundreds of them. We have achieved 94 per cent success,” he said. “The new process is less cumbersome and more natural.”

Transgenic animals are used to study how diseases are initiated and for developing treatments.