• Question: Why do you test on mice and not other animals?

    Asked by to David on 15 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by , , .
    • Photo: David Davila

      David Davila answered on 15 Jun 2014:

      There a lots of reasons to test on mice!
      Mice are mammals, which means they’re pretty similar to humans compared to lots of other animals, but they’re still simple enough for us to study them

      But one of the biggest reasons to work with mice is that they’re one of the only mammals that we have genetic tools for. Genetic tools are scientific tools we use by messing with a mouse’s DNA, and we just don’t know a lot about the DNA of other animals.

      For example, by messing with the genetics of a mouse, we can make neurons glow when they send signals, or even force the neurons to send signals by shining a light on them!

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