No human diseases have been cured without the assistance of animal research. Mouse models in particular have advanced pre-clinical studies and improved the outcome of a variety of serious medical conditions. Liver cancer is one malignancy with a high mortality rate, but animal research has enhanced the health outcomes of patients with this disease. One […]
Over twenty years ago, the agouti mouse was the first model cloned from which an obesity gene was described. Mutations in the agouti gene are associated with variations in coat color (stripes in cats and tigers), when an animal carries a single copy (or allele) of the gene. When the animal is homozygois for the […]
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are autoimmune conditions in which the immune system attacks regions of the digestive system. Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are the two most common forms of IBD, differing in nature and location of inflammation within the digestive system. Although there are notable differences between CD and UC – which […]
Before a study reaches Phase I clinical trials, scientists spend years conducting preclinical research. One vital part of this includes performing toxicology research on a particular medication or pharmaceutical product. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put great emphasis on the importance of preclinical safety evaluations. According to the FDA’s guidance for industry on preclinical […]
Today, patients who are diagnosed with cancer have a much higher likelihood of survival than in decades past. Fifty or sixty years ago, cancer was nearly always assigned a death sentence. Scientific cancer research, however, has brought effective treatments and increased the lifespan of most cancer patients. The advances that we have seen would not […]