Why mouse genetics?
Although non-mammalian model systems have provided a wealth of knowledge concerning basic gene function, it is our shared physiology that makes the mouse ideal for modeling complex human diseases and for drug efficacy testing. These include models for diseases and conditions such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, diabetes, osteoporosis, glaucoma, neurological and neuromuscular disorders and cancer.
We model and study these diseases in a variety of ways. The natural variation between inbred strains provides an essential tool to study complex diseases involving the interaction of multiple genes, a focal point of biomedical research and drug efficacy testing. Because many of the loci responsible for complex diseases such as atherosclerosis and hypertension are shared between mice and man, our research is crucial for the identification of genetic risk factors in the human population. In addition, our ability to directly manipulate the mouse genome provides an incredibly powerful tool to model specific diseases for which the causative gene is known. For example, the manipulation of genes involved in human cancer has allowed for the creation of hundreds of mouse models of cancer, greatly enhancing our ability to find effective treatments for many different types of neoplasias.
