Diversity Study with Mice The Tennessean reported that at the
Russell Laboratory for Comparative and Functional Genomics,
commonly known as "the mouse house," researchers are building a
mouse collection that resembles the human population in its
diversity, group leader Elissa Chesler said. Geneticist David
Threadgill said that this first-of-its-kind, international
project could become a platform for, "a new way of looking at
human biology using the mouse as a model." This project is a
collaboration between about 300 geneticists from around the
world and their plan is to creat 1,000 distinct lines of mice
from eight original breeds. The Associated Press reported that
mice have long been used as laboratory substitues for humans.
Mice reproduce quickly and are easily mutated. On a genetic
level they are about 85 percent identical people. The common
approach of examining one mouse gene at a time fails to address
the genetice and environmental complexity of human diseases and
conditions (i.e. obesity, diabetes, al