Editing Laboratory mouse (section)

== History as a biological model ==

Mice have been used in biomedical research since the 17th century when [[William Harvey]] used them for his studies on reproduction and blood circulation and [[Robert Hooke]] used them to investigate the biological consequences of an increase in air pressure.<ref name="Hedrich">{{cite book|title=The Laboratory Mouse|editor= Hedrich, Hans  |publisher=Elsevier Science|chapter=The house mouse as a laboratory model: a historical perspective|isbn=9780080542539|date= 2004-08-21  }}</ref> During the 18th century [[Joseph Priestley]] and [[Antoine Lavoisier]] both used mice to study [[Respiratory system|respiration]]. In the 19th century [[Gregor Mendel]] carried out his early investigations of inheritance on mouse coat color but was asked by his superior to stop breeding in his cell "smelly creatures that, in addition, copulated and had sex".<ref name="Hedrich"/> He then switched his investigations to peas but, as his observations were published in a somewhat obscure botanical journal, they were virtually ignored for over 35 years until they were rediscovered in the early 20th century. In 1902 [[Lucien Cuénot]] published the results of his experiments using mice which showed that Mendel's laws of inheritance were also valid for animals&nbsp;— results that were soon confirmed and extended to other species.<ref name="Hedrich"/>

In the early part of the 20th century, [[Harvard University|Harvard]] undergraduate [[Clarence Cook Little]] was conducting studies on mouse genetics in the laboratory of [[William Ernest Castle]].  Little and Castle collaborated closely with [[Abbie Lathrop]] who was a breeder of [[fancy mice]] and rats which she marketed to rodent hobbyists and keepers of exotic pets, and later began selling in large numbers to scientific researchers.<ref name="Steensma">{{cite journal | vauthors = Steensma DP, Kyle RA, Shampo MA | title = Abbie Lathrop, the "mouse woman of Granby": rodent fancier and accidental genetics pioneer | journal = Mayo Clinic Proceedings | volume = 85 | issue = 11 | pages = e83 | date = November 2010 | pmid = 21061734 | pmc = 2966381 | doi = 10.4065/mcp.2010.0647 }}</ref> Together they generated the DBA (Dilute, Brown and non-Agouti) inbred mouse strain and initiated the systematic generation of inbred strains.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://immunology.hms.harvard.edu/about-us/history |title=History of Immunology at Harvard |vauthors=Pillai S |work=Immunology.HMS.Harvard.edu |publisher=Harvard Medical School |access-date=19 December 2013 |archive-date=20 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220022416/https://immunology.hms.harvard.edu/about-us/history |url-status=dead }}</ref>  The mouse has since been used extensively as a [[model organism]] and is associated with many important biological discoveries of the 20th and 21st centuries.<ref name="Hedrich"/>

The [[Jackson Laboratory]] in [[Bar Harbor, Maine]] is currently one of the world's largest suppliers of laboratory mice, at around 3 million mice a year.<ref name="economist.com">{{Cite news |url= https://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21712058-evolution-scientific-mainstay-worlds-favourite-lab-animal-has-been-found |title=The world's favourite lab animal has been found wanting, but there are new twists in the mouse's tale |newspaper=The Economist |access-date=10 January 2017}}</ref> The laboratory is also the world's source for more than 8,000 strains of genetically defined mice and is home of the [[Mouse Genome Informatics]] database.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.criver.com/files/pdfs/rms/jax/rm_d_jax_eu_partnership.aspx |title=JAX Mice and Research Services |date=2016 |work=CRiver.com |publisher=Charles River Laboratories |access-date=10 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150818061606/http://www.criver.com/files/pdfs/rms/jax/rm_d_jax_eu_partnership.aspx |archive-date=18 August 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>