A few decades (or perhaps years) from now, lab rats (at least of the murine kind) will cease to skitter, scamper, and be probed and tested in most research labs. A paper published in Tissue Engineering Methods just this quarter details how Dr. Amit Gefen of Tel Aviv University and his team were able to deduce, using fat cells, that stem cells are sufficient in creating the tissue required for most current animal tests. Once other scientists (including Dr. Gefen himself) take up this promising lead and conduct more experiments to verify this claim, this may lead to the elimination of the need to sacrifice so many mice for just one experiment on one tiny organ or system. No more cute furry little white critters to feed, grow, clean, and experiment on...
...And yes, somewhere along the road there would be no weekly mice-room duties anymore for undergraduate students. I think they'll miss having to clean out mice/rat cages, take out and measure mice poop, and get occasionally bitten by the unruly rat....not. A lot of animal rights groups are also excited about this new development. Perhaps Mickey Mouse is doing a little jubilation dance somewhere...
photo courtesy of the Miami News Times blog
...And yes, somewhere along the road there would be no weekly mice-room duties anymore for undergraduate students. I think they'll miss having to clean out mice/rat cages, take out and measure mice poop, and get occasionally bitten by the unruly rat....not. A lot of animal rights groups are also excited about this new development. Perhaps Mickey Mouse is doing a little jubilation dance somewhere...
Post a Comment