<html><body><div style="font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000"><div>Dear <em>Xenopus</em> community<br></div><div> During the <em>Xenopus</em> conference last year there was a lot of interest in making mutants in <em>Xenopus.</em> After the meeting, in September, I wrote to you requesting assistance from you for an R01 I was submitting to make 100-200 mutants using CRISPR/Cas and TALENs. Many of you filled out the mutant survey and listed specific genes you wanted to have mutated. From this survey I obtained a list of 200 genes to mutate.<br></div><div> I am happy to report that this R01 was funded and I finally received the Notice of Award and will begin hiring people for this project in the next several months. I have put together a committee to help in the decision making process of choosing which genes to mutate in each year. The people on this committee are Julie Baker, Rebecca Heald, Hollis Cline, Richard Harland, Dominique Alfandari, Gerald Thomsen, Aaron Zorn, Brian Mitchell and Doug Houston. I tried to get individuals representative of all general fields in Xenopus. I want to emphasize that this R01 is a community based project and I will work closely with all of you to ensure that the creation of new mutants best serves the entire community.<br></div><div> At the upcoming PI meeting in September this will be one of the topics of discussion. I thank you all for your letters of support and for the list of genes you have provided. My goal is to continuously update the community on the progress being made and to set up a webpage where we list which genes are being mutated and at what stage the animals are at. Lastly, be patient with me as I get this established. </div><div> I am attaching a Table that I created for the grant representing all of the genes requested by you the community. If you do not see your gene on the list please fill out the survey (<span style="font-size: 12pt;" data-mce-style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT93_com_zimbra_url"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT99_com_zimbra_url"><a href="http://www.mbl.edu/xenopus/mutant_survey" target="_blank" data-mce-href="http://www.mbl.edu/xenopus/mutant_survey">http://www.mbl.edu/xenopus/mutant_survey</a></span></span></span>) and let me know. I will add it to the list.<br></div><div><br></div><div>I look forward to working with you on this project and once again thank you for all of your support.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Sincerely<br></div><div><br></div><div>Marko Horb<br></div><div><br></div><div><span name="x"></span>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Marko Horb, Ph.D.<br>Director, National Xenopus Resource (NXR)<br>Marine Biological Laboratory<br>7 MBL Street<br>Woods Hole, MA 02543<br><div><br></div>Email: xenopus@mbl.edu<br>Office: 508-289-7627<br>Cell: 508-564-3764<br><div><br></div>http://www.mbl.edu/xenopus<br>https://twitter.com/xenopusnxr<span name="x"></span><br></div><div><br></div></div></body></html>