Genentech Backs Developmental Research at the MGH.

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 7, 1997--The Cardiovascular Research Center (CVRC) at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Genentech, Inc., have entered into a multi-year collaboration that will provide substantial funding for basic developmental research conducted at the CVRC through studies of zebrafish.

By studying mutations in the tiny, transparent fish, researchers at the MGH and other institutions are identifying genes that play key roles in the development of the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and nervous systems, genes that may have counterparts in human development. Once identified, the involved genes could be targets for approaches to prevent or treat related birth defects. One of the first goals of the collaboration will be to produce and make publicly available a map of all identified markers in the zebrafish genome.

"The support we are receiving from Genentech will help us further our goal of understanding the biological steps underlying organ system development," says Mark Fishman, MD, director of the CVRC.

"We are pleased by the opportunity this collaboration provides to identify, access and share an important new database of genomic information," said Dennis Henner, Genentech vice president for Research. "This type of basic research helps keep our research and development effort fertile for new discoveries and will help provide a rich pipeline into the 21st century."

Many of the classic studies of how genes affect development -- the process by which a fertilized egg develops into an adult individual -- have been done in worms and fruit flies. Although that work identified many key genes and laid the groundwork for the field, there was a clear need for parallel studies in vertebrate animals, those with a backbone. The inch-long zebrafish is particularly attractive for such studies because its eggs and embryos are transparent, allowing researchers to see defects in bodily systems that would be hidden in mammals such as mice.

The CVRC researchers generate random mutations in zebrafish embryos using sperm that has been exposed to mutation-generating chemicals. Three generations of offspring later, painstaking analysis reveals the effect of a mutation in a particular gene. The process of actually identifying and cloning the genes responsible for each particular mutation, however, could take several years.

In the December issue of the journal Development, the CVRC team and the group of Christiane Nusslein-Volhard from Tubingen, Germany, jointly published the results of their past three years of research. Included among the mutations described were those which caused abnormalities of the heart, blood vessels, gut, pancreas, bone and notochord (the predecessor of the backbone). Several of these abnormalities resemble certain human birth defects. For example, a mutation causing reduced bloodflow to the zebrafish's tail produces a blood-vessel blockage similar to that seen in a human birth defect, coarctation of the aorta. If such genes prove to be involved in human birth defects, they could be targets for prevention or treatment strategies.

Genentech, Inc., is a leading biotechnology company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets human pharmaceuticals for significant unmet medical needs. Ten of the currently marketed biotechnology products stem from Genentech science, five of which Genentech markets directly in the United States. Genentech is headquartered in South San Francisco, California, and is traded on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges under the symbol GNE.

The Massachusetts General Hospital established in 1811, is the oldest and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. Sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic care in virtually every specialty and subspecialty of medicine are offered at the main hospital campus and in three community health centers. The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with a 1995 research budget of almost $192 million and major research centers in the neurosciences, cardiovascular research, cancer, cutaneous biology, transplantation biology and photomedicine. In 1994, the MGH joined with Brigham and Women's Hospital to form Partners HealthCare System, Inc.

CONTACT: Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco 

Laura Leber, 415/225-5759

or

MGH, Boston

Susan McGreevey, 617/724-2764