Unlike most people, Edison Liu actually likes mice—or, at least, appreciates their role as the workhorse of science. The Jackson Laboratory, where he serves as president and CEO, currently houses more than 9,000 mouse strains, some of which are genetically altered. Researchers and scientists can tap this common library to do everything from studying disease to drug development. In the past, mice were genetically engineered using mouse stem-cell technology. Now, almost all the mice in the collection are made using...
The Jackson Laboratory in Maine is leveraging the gene-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9 to engineer lab mice quicker and with more specificity. The technology can speed up validation of gene mutations and over the next decade, the efficiency and precision is projected to expand. The genetically-edited mice are used to screen drug candidates and modelling diseases commonly found in humans. "We can make mouse models much more relevant to the human condition...Those possibilities are terribly exciting," said Edison Liu, the laboratory's president and CEO.