Prostate cancer is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year, so the news today that in a clinical trial of more than 1,000 men a new drug named abiraterone acetate prolonged the lives of patients with advanced prostate cancer in a by an average of four months has been greeted with considerable excitement. … Continue reading Mice help identify promising prostate cancer treatment
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Mice, Nanotechnology, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Back in March I discussed a new therapy that combines nanotechnology and RNA interference (RNAi) to treat metastatic melanoma, and how basic and applied animal research has contributed to its’ development. Now researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University have reported the development of another nanotechnology and RNAi approach to treating inflammatory … Continue reading Mice, Nanotechnology, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Speaking Up: Confronting Misrepresentation
Animal activist groups often depend upon sensationalized and misrepresentative stories about laboratory animals to achieve media coverage. The response to these stories illustrates great public interest in how and why animal research is conducted. Unfortunately, these stories frequently perpetuate distorted views about the goals and conduct of the vast majority of animal research. As such, … Continue reading Speaking Up: Confronting Misrepresentation
Bob Edwards wins 2010 Nobel Prize for developing IVF: Thank the mice, rabbits, hamsters…
Professor Robert G. Edwards of the University of Cambridge has long been recognized as one of the pioneers of reproductive medicine. His most famous accomplishment, along with surgeon Patrick Steptoe*, came in 1978 with the birth of Louise Joy Brown, the first baby born through in-vitro fertilization. This achievement has now been recognized by the … Continue reading Bob Edwards wins 2010 Nobel Prize for developing IVF: Thank the mice, rabbits, hamsters…
Lasker awards highlight the contribution of animal research to medical progress
Each September the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation recognizes the contribution made by scientists and doctors to medicine by awarding prizes to those who have made outstanding contributions to our understanding of disease, and to its treatment and prevention. The list of past recipients of these awards reads as a veritable who’s who of the … Continue reading Lasker awards highlight the contribution of animal research to medical progress
Animal research: At the forefront of modern medicine
Several reports in the news over the past week have highlighted yet again the importance of animal research to medical advances. The BBC reports that gene therapy has been used successfully to treat a patient with severe β-thalassemia. β-thalassemia is an inherited disorder caused by mutations in the β-globin chain of haemoglobin that lead to … Continue reading Animal research: At the forefront of modern medicine
Speaking Up: Who Does ‘No Comment’ Work For?
It is no secret that activist groups regularly aim for mainstream news coverage by producing sensationalized and misinformed stories about laboratory animals. Like other topics in science that are generally not well understood, animal research can be a relatively easy target for misrepresentation. This is particularly true when such stories are met with little challenge … Continue reading Speaking Up: Who Does ‘No Comment’ Work For?
Herceptin: When personalized medicine and animal research meet.
Personalized medicine is very popular among medical researchers these days, and it’s not hard to see why. By tailoring treatment to fit an individual patient, for example by using information about their genetic makeup, scientists hope to make treatments more effective while at the same time avoiding or minimizing adverse effects. Anti-vivisectionist Dr. Greek writes … Continue reading Herceptin: When personalized medicine and animal research meet.
Speaking of Research 