They may not look as strange as a Minotaur or a mermaid, but some of the mice used in today's research labs are every bit as wondrous as those mythical combinations of animals and humans. In 1988 two California immunologists announced that they had transplanted human immune-system tissues and cells into mice, causing the rodents to manufacture human antibodies and certain types of white blood cells. Since that pioneering effort, "humanized" mice have become invaluable research tools, particularly in the fight against AIDS and other viral diseases.
New experiments indicate that tissues from many different human organs can be put into...
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