Mice are a crucial resource for the scientific community. Scientific researchers from numerous disciplines use the mouse as a model to mimic and recapitulate diseases and test scientific questions related to human health and disease. These efforts include basic research, studies on the pathogenesis of disease, therapeutics to treat disease, markers for the diagnosis of disease, and strategies (e.g., vaccines) to prevent disease (Figure 1).

A recent study by a team of researchers at the Southwest National Primate Research Center (SNPRC) and Texas Biomedical Research Institute, in collaboration with Washington University in St. Louis, highlights ORIP’s commitment to supporting high-impact animal research to better understand the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Laboratory mice are an essential resource for the scientific community. The mouse genome can be manipulated easily, allowing researchers to induce...

The current COVID-19 pandemic in humans, caused by the novel coronavirus strain SARS-CoV-2, has compelled scientists around the world to work remarkably fast to develop vaccines and therapeutics. To achieve this, many researchers are looking to use animal models for their studies. But do animal models for COVID-19 research exist?

Animal Models for Coronavirus Research

ORIP aims to provide investigators with the resources and infrastructure they need to improve human health, including by supporting the development of animal models of human disease. The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in humans, caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strain, has compelled scientists around the world to work remarkably fast to develop vaccines and therapeutics using animal models.

Each year, billions of dollars are spent on studying human diseases. Most science experts will agree that the use of laboratory animals is essential to understand how certain ailments develop in humans and to develop novel therapeutic approaches. Due to the ethical dilemma of conducting experiments in people as well as the advances of research studies in well-defined and characterized animal species, scientists have relied on laboratory animals as research models for more than 70 years.

Biobanks seek to reduce the hidden variables in animal resources that can affect experimental results.

Mutant mouse strains enable scientists to study pathogens as they interact with the human immune system.