Building a Better Lab Rat
Forbes reports that researchers at the Mayo Clinic have developed an important
research tool in the fight against Rheumatoid Arthritis, a lab rat that mimics the human course of the disease. These transgenic mice have had a gene associated with R.A. risk in humans spliced into their genome and are showing expected signs of the disease, including the R.A. gender gap.
Obviously it helps to have research subjects that do not have constitutional rights, allowing researchers to study the disease more closely under lab conditions, and test treatments more thoroughly and quickly.
Story: Forbes
