Testing Cancer Treatments on an Avatar

Do you know what an avatar mouse is? It's an interesting technique that's being used to help identify which drugs are most effective against a specific tumor, and it involves using real mice. Actually, they are specially bred mice that do not have an immune system. A piece of patient's tumor can be implanted into the mice where the tumor continues to grow and develop. The mice can then be used to test the effectiveness of various anti-cancer drugs on the tumor.  The mice, then, act as an avatar for the patient to test potential treatments....Read Full Post
Source: About.com Biotech Biomedical - Category: Biotechnology Source Type: news