October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and while the overall death rate from breast cancer has gone down 1% every year from 2013 to 2018, breast cancer is still the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women and has the second-highest death rates, after lung cancer. In the United States,...

For more than 150 years, researchers have used laboratory mice to study various physical diseases and conditions that occur in humans, in part because changes in the body of a rodent are relatively easy to control and study. Using mice to study mental conditions has been more challenging, however, because the...

Obesity is one of the most serious health issues in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 72% of U.S. adults are overweight, more than 42% are obese, and more than 9% are severely obese. Not only does obesity increase the risk of heart...

Parkinson’s disease is a disorder of the brain and central nervous system that can cause tremors, stiffness, movement and balance issues, and cognitive impairment. Almost one million people in the U.S. are currently living with Parkinson's disease, about 50 percent more men than women. Parkinson's disease occurs when specific nerve cells...

Many of the conditions and functions studied by animal researchers are too specific or esoteric to be easily understood by the general public, but there’s one area of study everyone can relate to: pain. Occasional pain is an expected part of life, but when it becomes chronic—defined as pain that persists...

We now have several very effective COVID-19 vaccines, but that doesn’t mean the research into preventing and treating the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has slowed down. Researchers continue to find new and innovative ways to treat COVID-19 and its symptoms, from the use of an over-the-counter dietary supplement...

Diversity is a hot-button issue these days, with organizations from police forces to major corporations taking steps to address the lack of racial, cultural, socioeconomic, and gender diversity in their ranks. Biomedical research is no exception. Like many other arenas, the field of scientific research is sorely in need of more...

We know sleep is important: it helps us rest and recharge, and not getting enough can cause all kinds of problems, from depression and difficulty concentrating to an increased risk of chronic disease. Recent research with mice has shed some light on the importance of lights-out. Fear, Memory and Sleep At the...

These days we’re all very familiar with stress, but while we may know how it feels, we’re less sure what exactly causes it and the full range of effects it can have on the body and brain. Now, new research with mice sheds some light on the connections between stress,...

When we think of vaccines, we think of a shot given to a healthy subject to prevent them from becoming infected with the disease the vaccine targets. This type of preventive vaccine has worked well for many diseases, and there are now more than 20 vaccines commonly used in the...

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and that is certainly turning out to be the case for two COVID-19 vaccines that have sped from research through animal testing to widespread clinical testing in record time—just one year after the SARS-CoV-2 virus was first detected in China and less...

Animal research has played a critical role in some of the most important scientific discoveries in history, including identifying the causes and mechanics of diseases, developing vaccines, and understanding how the human body functions. But animal research has also led to some less critical, though no less interesting, discoveries, and many...

Before a vaccine can be used to protect humans from a specific disease, there is a long, careful process involving extensive research and testing to determine two main things: whether the vaccine works, and whether it is safe to use in people. There are three primary stages of vaccine research and...

When are mice more than mice? When they have been genetically engineered to be part human. Laboratory mice have been used in preclinical research for hundreds of years, and they have been invaluable in helping scientists learn how the body works, study immune responses to diseases, and test drugs and other...

Scientists continue to learn about how the brain works, but human memory still holds many mysteries. How exactly are memories stored and retrieved? How does the brain recognize and treat different types of memories? Can memories be changed or manipulated? How can memory be damaged or improved? Recent research has...

With the number of COVID-19 cases approaching 16 million worldwide, the entire research world is focused on finding a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Many companies are testing antiviral drugs that could help treat people who have already been infected with COVID-19 by hindering the virus’s ability to...

One of the most interesting things scientists have discovered about COVID-19 is that men seem to be more susceptible to the virus, and to suffer more serious symptoms. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), men have accounted for 63% of COVID-19 deaths in Europe, and Chinese researchers say 70% of...

As the world continues to be affected by the coronavirus pandemic, scientists are working on ways to get us back to normal. Antibodies may be the key. Researchers have known the role antibodies play in immunity since the late 19th Century, but the concept has entered the spotlight recently as healthcare...

As scientists across the world race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, animal research is playing a key role, as it has with the development of many other vaccines in history. Research with mice, rats, and other animals has enabled scientists to develop vaccines...

For as long as modern humans have existed, they have been trying to find a “fountain of youth” to slow or reverse the aging process—both to enable humans to live longer and to fight the diseases and degeneration associated with advanced age. Recent mouse studies show that scientists are getting...