DECEMBER 2007: NEXT
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It’s a tricky thing to talk up a mouse without getting
cheesy. But this little guy, by all appearances a normal
rodent, has a human liver inside of it, making it a real-life
mighty mouse worth at least five grand. Markus Grompe of the
Oregon Stem Cell Center at Oregon Health & Science
University is breeding more of this star in hopes of
revolutionizing the way drugs are tested. The mouse’s
liver is infected with disease and then healthy human liver
cells are transplanted into it; these human cells thrive until
the liver is only 10% mouse. The new liver allows the mice to
metabolize and excrete medications like a human. Pharmaceutical
companies testing medication toxicity and searching for disease
cures are interested because testing on this mouse is like
testing on real human liver cells, which are hard to come by.
Previous technology only allowed for an inconsequential number
of human cells in mice, and a more recent Japanese version
can’t control the liver disease or stop healthy mouse
liver cells from regenerating. Those mice have shorter life
spans and are difficult to breed, which makes Grompe optimistic
that he’s developed a big seller. With the Japanese mice
selling for $5,000 each, Grompe could be holding a small, furry
fortune in his hands. AMBER NOBE
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