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Genetically Engineered Mice at the Science Museum
From: Science Museum
| By:
John Durant |
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION |
In 1989, two freeze-dried male mice became the first animals to join the permanent collection at the Science Museum, London. These were no ordinary mice. They were genetically engineered 'oncomice' that had been developed by scientists at Harvard Medical School to be used in cancer research. John Durant tells their story. |
  he Science Museum collects artefacts, not organisms. This rule has applied since the museum's foundation. But in 1989 the rule was apparently broken when two mice were acquired for its permanent collection. The mice were male, had been preserved by freeze-drying, and were the gift of the Harvard Medical School. |
 The interest in these mice reflects the revolution in the biological sciences that has accompanied the development of what is often termed 'genetic engineering'. Following Francis Crick and James Watson's discovery of the structure of the genetic material deoxyribosenucleic acid (DNA) in 1953, molecular geneticists made astonishingly rapid progress in unravelling the mechanism of inheritance. By the late 1960s they knew a great deal about how genetic information is passed down the generations, and they had worked out how this information is translated into specific proteins. In the early 1970s they acquired the ability to perform a sort of molecular surgery with DNA. Known as 'recombinant DNA technology', it involves extracting DNA fragments from one organism and inserting them into the genetic structure of another. Over the past 15 years, recombinant DNA technology has transformed molecular genetics from an elegant but essentially pure science into a powerful applied science that sits at the heart of biotechnology and molecular medicine. Current applications include the creation of new crop varieties, the development of new drugs, and the production of hormones--such as human insulin--on an industrial scale. |
One particularly important branch of recombinant DNA technology involves the creation of so-called 'transgenic animals'. A transgenic animal is produced when donor DNA fragments are inserted into a newly fertilized egg cell and become incorporated into the animal's genes. As the cell develops, the inserted DNA is copied along with the animal's own genes. The result is a transgenic animal with new characteristics. In 1984 Timothy Stewart, Paul Pattengale and Philip Leder of the Harvard Medical School Department of Genetics announced the creation of 13 strains of transgenic mice. These mice had been modified by the insertion of part of a cancer-causing gene, or 'oncogene'. As a result, the mice were predisposed to develop specific cancers. By working with an 'oncomouse', medical researchers can explore the underlying mechanism of cancer and test potential anti-cancer drugs. |
The President and Fellows of Harvard College applied for a patent on Stewart and his colleagues' oncomouse in 1984. A precedent for this patent application had been set in 1980, when the US Supreme Court decreed that 'anything under the sun that is made by man' is patentable. In 1987 the US Patent Office announced that 'higher life forms' were patentable, and in 1988 it finally granted Harvard's oncomouse patent application. In 1991 the European Patent Office followed its American counterpart by granting a European patent on the Harvard oncomouse. Today the oncomouse is marketed by the Du Pont chemical company for around US$100, compared with around US$1 for an ordinary laboratory mouse. The oncomouse is increasingly widely used in cancer research, and other mouse varieties have been developed as models for studying heart disease, AIDS and genetically inherited diseases. |
The patenting of life forms is controversial. Some animal welfare and environmental organisations oppose plant and animal patents on ethical grounds; some farming organisations oppose them on commercial grounds. Notwithstanding such objections, the rapid development and commercial application of genetic biotechnologies has provided great scope for plant and animal patents. The Harvard oncomice thus represent an important phase in the development of molecular genetics. With the advent of biotechnology and transgenic animals, it seems that organisms can also be artefacts. |
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