Question: What do you think about experimenting on live animals (vivisection)?

Sean Murphy answered on 14 Mar 2012:

I do not enjoy experimenting on animals. However the alternatives such as testing with computer models or cell lines do not yet accurately mimic the complex biology in stem cells and human patients. We try to minimize the numbers of animals we use and avoid performing cruel or painful procedures.

I had an experience once where we had an opportunity to treat a very sick baby with an experimental cell therapy. After a lot of thought, we decided that we did not know enough about the new treatment to risk giving it to the baby. Over the next few months we tested the treatment on mice and found that if we had given the therapy to the baby we most likely would have caused her to become even more sick, possibly even killing her. While computer models and cell lines can predict the effects of drugs, it would be impossible to test this type of treatment. In the end I was glad we performed the mouse experiments because in my opinion the life of a human baby is worth the sacrifice of the mice we used.