Mighty Mouse

[pb_vidembed title=”” caption=”” url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4ZqIq4JuUA” type=”yt” w=”600″ h=”320″]How do you study humans without studying humans?  With mice, of course!  These living test tubes closely mimic the genetic makeup of  humans—95 percent close, in fact. And their small size and short gestation period make them  ideal models for studying human disease.

But in research, the garden-variety rodent doesn’t make the cut. Technological advances have made it possible for scientists to  actually design mice with  very specific genetic codes. In October, the 2007 Nobel Prize in  medicine was awarded to a  trio of scientists who developed the immensely powerful  “knockout” technology, which allows researchers to create animal models of human disease in mice by  removing genes. Scientists also have since developed the capacity to add genes. The outcome  is a mouse that exhibits traits of human disease, generation after generation.