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Scientists may debate the accuracy of this equivalency, but most people agree that humans live many times longer than their furry friends. And, as it happens, these friends have features that uniquely qualify them to help us speed biomedical research.

Animals in biomedical research, 5 part lesson

Highlighting role of animal research in human health.  A visually appealing website with an array of research summaries.

Comprehensive list of sites regarding animal research.

Research leading to almost every Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded since 1901 was dependent on data from animal models.  This fact dramatically demonstrates the important contribution animal models in biomedical research make to both international and American medical progress. In fact, since 1979, every Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded was dependent on data from animal models with the exception of the 1983 Prize awarded to Dr. Barbara McClintock for her work in plant genetics.

Students use DNA profiling to determine who robbed a bank. After they learn how the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) is used to match crime scene DNA with tissue sample DNA, students use CODIS principles and sample DNA fragments to determine which of three suspects matches evidence obtain at a crime location. They communicate their results as if they were biomedical engineers reporting to a police crime scene investigation.

video clips of diverse women scientists and STEM role models  3700 video clips from 160 inspiring women - biochemists, biomedical researchers, chemists, forensic scientists, geneticists, genomic sciences, geologists, icthylogists, meterologists, oceanographers

Hyper-IgM syndrome is an X-linked genetic disorder more commonly affecting males than females. It is caused by the lack of heavy chain class-switching from IgM to other isotypes. Patients with hyper-IgM syndrome are susceptible to a variety of infections as demonstrated in this medical case study. Students are presented patient information, symptoms and a diagnosis that must be interpreted. The case was written for use with the team-based learning (TBL) format involving groups of 4-5 students per group, but it could also be completed as an individual project. The case is targeted to premedical/allied health advanced students and is appropriate for any immunology course at the undergraduate or graduate level in a biomedical science program, or health-related professional courses such as advanced physiology, pathophysiology, microbiology, or histology and cytology.

Health care costs have been a hot button topic in recent years, and rightfully so. The United States spends an extraordinary amount of money on health care each year - $9,523 for every man, woman and child to be exact. This totals over 1 trillion dollars, accounting for roughly 17 percent of the United States' gross domestic product (GDP). The federal government spends 27 percent of its total budget on health care. Astonishingly more than it spends on the military, food and agriculture, education, transportation, and international affairs combined. So where is all the money going? Strangely enough, to combat just a few diseases.

Curriculum materials for the following topics: HeLa Cells & HPV Genes: Immortality & Cancer, which reviews basic cell biology, tissue culture, and human subjects research in the context of privacy, rights, and compensation. Link: http://www.stemcellcurriculum.org/hela-cells-hpv-genes-immortality-cancer.html · Eggs & Blood: Gifts & Commodities, which addresses the value placed on some bodily tissues/cells and not on others. Link: http://www.stemcellcurriculum.org/eggs-and-blood.html · Disease, Disability, & Immortality: Hope & Hype, which explores the natural physical and cognitive variability in the human population and questions the goal of a "cure" in biomedical research. Link: http://www.stemcellcurriculum.org/disease-disability-immortality-hope-hype.html · Stem Cells & Policy: Values & Religion, which analyzes how policy is shaped in pluralistic societies that require tolerance of different points of view. Link: http://www.stemcellcurriculum.org/stem-cells-policy-values-and-religion.html

Parkinson's is a result of the loss of cells in various parts of the brain, including one portion that produces the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine is essential for being able to move in a coordinated way, so the loss of dopamine causes the tremors often associated with the condition. While the exact cause of Parkinson's is unknown, genetics and environment are contributing factors. Most cases occur in patients with no family history of Parkinson's disease, but there are 13 gene mutations that have been linked to either causing the disease or increasing one's risk of developing it. Certainly not everyone who carries these gene mutations develops Parkinson's, but identifying these genetic indicators is the beginning of developing more precise treatments.

That LSU-based research yielded Embera, and in three to five years it could come to market. Goeders and his financial backers at Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana are confident their product will help battle substance addiction.

Millions of people suffer from asthma, a frightening disease that makes you feel like you're drowning. Using both mouse and human cells - and a humanized mouse to show how human type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2) work in the body, researchers at Janssen Research and Development, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School are figuring out ILC2's role in asthma. Their findings have important implications in the quest for effective asthma therapies!

Learn to use Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man®, or OMIM®, a catalog of human genes and genetic conditions. OMIM is a foundational resource in genomics and is valuable for clinicians and biomedical researchers. OMIM links and data are found at sites all around the bioinformatics sphere, but understanding the full scope of OMIM's data and resources enable the most comprehensive understanding of human phenotypes and disease. OMIM contains full-text summaries of information from the scientific literature, and provides extensive links to the literature resources and other genomic resource tools as well. Use OMIM as a comprehensive first stop to find important information and gene links for human Mendelian disorders.

SAN ANTONIO -- Scientists at a South Texas research center made a breakthrough discovery by destroying the Ebola virus in animals through a Chinese herb. Texas Biomedical Research Center said a compound derived from the herb called tetrandrine was used to make a drug. He says his team injected mice with the drug.

A cornerstone of modern biomedical research is the use of mouse models to explore basic pathophysiological mechanisms, evaluate new therapeutic approaches, and make go or no-go decisions to carry new drug candidates forward into clinical trials. Systematic studies evaluating how well murine models mimic human inflammatory diseases are nonexistent. Here, we show that, although acute inflammatory stresses from different etiologies result in highly similar genomic responses in humans, the responses in corresponding mouse models correlate poorly with the human conditions and also, one another.

In Milan, two German Shepherds trained for this particular task have certainly proven themselves accurate. The dogs were trained to detect specific chemicals in urine samples. One dog successfully identified prostate cancer in 98.7% of samples, and the other dog successfully identified prostate cancer in 97.6% of samples.

The Animal Research Behind the Top 25 most Prescribed Drugs

Technical details aside, Crispr-Cas9 makes it easy, cheap, and fast to move genes around-any genes, in any living thing, from bacteria to people. "These are monumental moments in the history of biomedical research," Baltimore says. "They don't happen every day." Using the three-year-old technique, researchers have already reversed mutations that cause blindness, stopped cancer cells from multiplying, and made cells impervious to the virus that causes AIDS. Agronomists have rendered wheat invulnerable to killer fungi like powdery mildew, hinting at engineered staple crops that can feed a population of 9 billion on an ever-warmer planet. Bioengineers have used Crispr to alter the DNA of yeast so that it consumes plant matter and excretes ethanol, promising an end to reliance on petrochemicals. Startups devoted to Crispr have launched. International pharmaceutical and agricultural companies have spun up Crispr R&D. Two of the most powerful universities in the US are engaged in a vicious war over the basic patent.

This animation depicts the CRISPR-Cas9 method for genome editing - a powerful new technology with many applications in biomedical research, including the potential to treat human genetic disease. Feng Zhang, a leader in the development of this technology, is a faculty member at MIT, an investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and a core member of the Broad Institute. Further information can be found on Prof. Zhang's website at http://zlab.mit.edu .