Mouse experiment

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Joined
Aug 10, 2012
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204
Reason
PALS
Diagnosis
12/2012
Country
FI
State
Southern Finland
City
Espoo
Once upon a time there was a research institute that was trying to develop a fuel for automobiles. Because cars are expensive, the institute had found a shortcut: every potential fuel was first tested on mice, and only those that showed positive results on mice, were subsequently tested on automobiles.

Gasoline was tested. Mice died of poisoning. The same thing happened with diesel fuel. Bioethanol messed up mice’s steering system. Mice that were given electricity kicked for a while but eventually went stiff.

Finally a breakthrough discovery was made: cheese. Mice fed with cheese functioned perfectly. The institute published a press release and several scientific papers were written. Money was raised to purchase 1000 automobiles and their tanks were filled with cheese.

The test produced disappointing results: the cars did not move at all. The institute published the results and started raising funds for further mouse experiments.


The story is, of course, pure fiction. Engineers are not quite that dumb.
 
"Engineers are not quite that dumb"
You got that right! :smile:
 
Too bad ALS drug developers are not engineers.
 
I'm married to one, Marty and I'd happily argue with you about that depending on the day and the situation! ;) He's still confounded by which dial turns on which element on the stove. He usually ends up turning on the wrong one and wondering why the pot isn't boiling after 15 minutes.
 
I see this was moved to off topic. In spite of the satirical approach, this was meant as a serious criticism on how using mice in preclinical screening will mislead the drug development process. God knows how many effective ALS drugs have been scrubbed because they don't work on SOD1 mice.
 
There are clearly issues with the mouse model.

Recently in one of my FB group someone excitedly reported some positive results from a mouse study. I could only think how nice for the mouse ( though not as they generally get “ sacrificed “ to compare them to the control group)

IPS technology has brought another dimension to the game and it is very welcome. I have to say mice still have a role.

I am c9 and it took a bit to get a workable c9 mouse. In the meantime ASO was successfully tested in IPS cells. The FDA insisted on a animal model study. That study indicated serious issues ( cancer and ironically neuro issues) with that technique. They have continued to work on it and a human trial is expected soon. In this case the combination seems to have resulted in a better potential treatment

The issue is harder with so called SALS of course. There isn’t a SALS mouse and of course SALS is not a single disease any more than FALS is.
 
Confused the hell outta me how this thread has jumped around the forum sections - an engineer was involved?
 
Thread fell through a mouse hole
 
Wickedly satirical... I love it!
 
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