Hot off the press:
Two British-born scientists, Sir Martin J Evans and Oliver Smithies, and an Italian-born colleague, Mario R Capecchi, share this year’s Nobel ’for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells‘.

In layman’s terms, they developed a way to make ‘designer mice’ that meant that the role of different genes in human development and disease could be tracked. The technique could be used (i) to discover the function of a gene, and (ii) to create of animal models of human disease such as cystic fibrosis, diabetes and heart disease.

This incredibly powerful technology – referred to as a ‘magic wand’ by Prof Ira Herskowitz in 2001 when she presented the Lasker prize to the trio – has had a revolutionary impact on medical research:

‘The ability to precisely tailor mouse genes has completely revolutionized the practice of biomedical science for the last decade and is likely to become even more important in the decades to come. We are certain to reap an enormous bounty of information from knockout mice and reap great benefits for the improvement of human health.’
– Prof Ira Herskowitz, presenting the 2001 Lasker Prize to Capecchi, Evans and Smithies

Although she made these comments just six years ago, the predicted benefits for human health are already recognised:

‘Thanks to this technology we have a much better understanding of the function of specific genes in pathways in the whole organism and a greater ability to predict whether drugs acting on those pathways are likely to have beneficial effects in disease.
– Stephen O’Rahilly, Head of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Cambridge quoted by Reuters, ‘Designer mice’ pioneers win Nobel for medicine, 8th October 2007

Steve Brown, director of the mammalian genetics unit at the Medical Research Council in London, said the three researchers have ‘given us the toolkit to understand how genes function’ in mice and so, by extension, in humans. As a result, of their work, he said, ‘we’re on the cusp of having a much better understanding of the relationship between genes and disease.’
– The Associated Press, US, UK Scientists Win Nobel in Medicine, 8th October 2007

Animal research has been an integral part of over 70% of the Nobel Prizes for Medicine – it seems that the contribution of animal research to the field of biomedicine continues to be recognised with the highest accolades of science.