Designer Mice Made to Order

blackbearnh writes "CNN is reporting about the world of designer mice. No, not the kind you click, the kind that scamper around and eat cheese. An effort is underway to produce mice with each of the 20-25,000 individual mouse genes "knocked out", which could lead to novel new treatments for humans. It turns out that after fully sequencing the mouse genome, the little fellas are almost identical to humans. From the article: 'A mouse with arthritis runs close to $200; two pairs of epileptic mice can cost 10 times that. You want three blind mice? That'll run you about $250. And for your own custom mouse, with the genetic modification of your choosing, expect to pay as much as $100,000.'"

Comments

would you?

[dotpavan]

A mouse with arthritis runs close to $200; two pairs of epileptic mice can cost 10 times that. You want three blind mice? That'll run you about $250. And for your own custom mouse, with the genetic modification of your choosing, expect to pay as much as $100,000.'"

Oh, and Would you like to have fries with it?

Re:would you?

[Lev13than]

To: Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME
Re: Genetically modified mice

Dear Sir,

I understand that you are in the business of breeding custom-designed mice. I find this quite fascinating, as I require custom animals for my experiments. Do you, by chance, have any specimens which are flexible, clawless and agoraphobic?

Regards,
R. Gere

Re:would you?

[bobcat7677]

To: Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME Re: Genetically modified mice Dear Sir, I understand that you are in the business of breeding custom-designed mice. My company's activities sometimes require the use of animals with certain qualities that are getting hard to find these days. I am contacting you as our supplies of sharks and sea bass seem to have "dried up". Could you by chance produce a large quantity of ill tempered mice? We would also be interested in having laser beams attached to their little heads if you have the facilities for that. Thank you in advance, Number Two

Laser Mouse?

[compuguy84]

...Priceless...

Re:You've got to be kidding me?

[jcostantino]

It's probably for scientific research... I seriously doubt that someone would buy mutant mice for fun.. well, unless they had frickin' laser pointers on their heads.

Profit!

[cowboy76Spain]

1. Catch three normal mice somewhere
2. !!!!!!
3. Sell three blind mice for $250
4. Profit!

Wistful thinking

[jaymzter]

Work with me here.. A mouse with laser beams for eyes!! And he flies, and with super strength shall lay the capitals of the world to waste! I shall call him.. MIGHTY MOUSE!!

Unless you pay me the sum of One Million Dollars!!

Re: Designer Mice Made to Order

[JeanBaptiste]

Can you make them with the cheese already inside?

That would really save me a lot of trouble...

I prefer Mozzerella.

Thanks in advance.

Intelligent Design

[RedHatLinux]

Does this count as intelligent design?

Re:Uhmmm....

[ErikZ]

Inhumane?! Science being cold, calculating and pitiless? Say it isn't so!

Don't worry about it, when the tests are done, they cure the arthritic mice, put the anti-seizure chip in the epileptic mice, and tiny little bionic eyes in the blind mice. Then they send them to a local farm and release them in a field. Where it's nice and sunny and they can run and laugh and frolic all day long.

But usually they last about 15 minutes before an owl comes by and eviscerates it. A lot of owls hang out by that field, we're not sure why.

Re:special mice ... really special

[Miaowara_Tomokato]

Rodents of Unusual Size? ...I don't believe they exist.

They've got it backwards

[kjots]

No no no, you've got it all wrong! It's the mice that have genetically reprogrammed us to have arthritis, epilipsy and/or obesity! It's all part of a long running experiment to discover the true nature of the universe! The fact that the scientist think they're the ones performing the experiments just proves how ingeniously subtle the mice really are!

Perhaps, then..

[Inoshiro]

we should breed cats who can DDR.