European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 1, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 20 stars and stripes sunday april 1 2007 mouse House mimics humanity by Duncan Mansfield the associated press Oak Ridge term in one Corner of the vast Oak Ridge National Laboratory they Arent interested so much in building a better Mousetrap but in creating a vast Colony of closely crossbred mice at the Russell Laboratory for comparative and functional genomics commonly known As the mouse researchers Are building a mouse collection that resembles the human popu lation in its diversity group Leader Elissa Chester says this firstos Itkind International project could become a platform for a new Way of look ing at human biology using the mouse As a said geneticist David Threadgill at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill mice have Long been used As Laboratory substitutes for humans they reproduce quickly Are easily mutated and on a genetic level Are about 85 percent identical to people but researchers say the approach used in those studies at Oak Ridge and elsewhere examining one Gene at a time fails to address the genetic and environmental complexity of human diseases and conditions such As obesity diabetes alcohol ism and aging it is like saying do you want a Blurry picture of Saturn or do you want to see the space be tween the rings Chesler said with the so called collaborative Cross mouse project we can get Down to that level of de the project is the result of a collaboration among some 300 geneticists from around the world their plan is to create Dis Tinct lines of mice from eight orig Inal Breeds it will require More than 20 generations of carefully plotted though randomly selected crossbreeding and inbreeding but the result will be like Tak ing representatives of each racial group from each geographical Region and putting them to Gether and then being Able to re produce those same individuals Over and Threadgill said the potential breakthrough is to be Able to study multiple genetic factors simultaneously aided in part by the Oak Ridge nation Al Laboratory supercomputers it also could be the basis for de Cades of accumulated research by scientists from around the Globe on the same mouse Pool this is a very exciting said Marvin Stodolsky of the department of Energy of fice of biological and Environ mental research it will reflect the sort of diver sity that we have in the human population which for some tech Nical reasons and largely Politi Cal reasons Stem cells we can not yet Harvest and he said Well the mice Are not in a Posi Tion to the million Russell lab which opened in 2004 was selected As the main site for this work Oracle ceo Lawrence j Elli sons medical foundation which has a particular interest in agree photos by Curtis Boles Oak Ridge National above four of the eight different Breeds of lab mice that Are being crossbred into a new Large population of mice intended to mimic the genetic diversity of the human population for advanced studies at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee the project could Lead to treatments for people top geneticist Elissa Chesler examines a mouse lated diseases is providing fund ing support companion projects Are under Way in Israel and Australia funded by the wellcome Trust in Jerusalem and the University of Western Australia in Perth the Russell lab offers cushy accommodations for up to resident air filtered water climate controlled cages in rooms virtually sealed off from the outside world and equipment for cryogenically Freez ing their embryonic offspring since the collaborative Cross work began in 2005 a Little Over 400 mouse strains have been Cre ated in Oak Ridge scientists be Lieve they will need about crossbred lines to yield via ble ones the reproduction work could take three to five More years to Complete though researchers could begin using the mouse Pool in As Little As 18 months geneticist Rob Williams at the University of Tennessee health sciences Center in Memphis a founding member of the collaboration views Complex mouse work As the Only Way to achieve individualized the concept is that everyone will one Day have a credit card containing their genetic history that their doctor can use to Fine tune their treatment we will need a tremendous amount of information in order to predict outcomes and risk Williams said if we can do predictive Medicine on then the prospects Are re ally great for very effective predictive and preventative medi Cine for human populations but we still have a Long Way to Williams said Young Gays coming out for the cause by Lisa Leff the associated press Sacramento Calif the Hal dozen lobbyists who crowded into a lawmakers office Here didst come Bear ing Slick pitches Campaign Cash or votes to Swap just tales of High school torment As fresh As their faces Maria Ramos 18 discussed the academic toll daily doses of Nam calling took on her Gay and lesbian friends Andrew Konke 21 Drew parallels Between Gay rights and earlier civil rights struggles Ignacio Pitala 19 talked about having a trash can dumped on him by other boys who suspected he was Gay its a big obstacle to Pitala said pressing assemblyman Curren Price to cosponsor a Bill that sets specific requirements for schools to protect students from ant Gay discrimination Young people some barely in their teens Are becoming the Gay rights move ments newest ambassadors at statehouse from Olympia to Montpelier it their advocacy unheard of As recently As a decade ago reflects the slowly growing acceptance that is emboldening Gays and lesbians to come out of the closet while they Are coming of age the biggest change that has happened from 10 years or 20 years ago is there Are More out people now from openly Gay teachers to openly Gay said Candace Gingrich youth outreach coordinator for the human rights Campaign a National Gay rights advocacy group that awareness and getting that kind of support from your Peers makes you stronger As an individual and As a group being willing to fight for things and to stand up against a Veteran activists credit the political participation of Gay youth their straight friends and children of same sex parents with a string of recent legislative victories including last months passage of an anti bullying Bill that provides specific protections for Gay and lesbian students in Iowa the Laws adoption came after the Iowa Pride network issued a report saying More than 83 percent of the states Gay lesbian and transgender students said they had been verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation we kept getting comments from Legisla tors of there Arent Gay kids in Iowa this is an East and West coast said Ryan Roemerman the networks director the group also arranged a news Confer ence attended by Iowa lieutenant Gover nor and three students who provided first hand accounts of discrimination they included a girl who was kicked out of her Catholic High school after she came out As a lesbian and another who said she want allowed into the locker room to change with other girls Brad Anderson spokesman for Iowa gov Chet Culver said the organized lobby ing Effort which also included a son rally at Drake University was absolutely critical in getting the legislation approved they added a loud voice just physically being in the Capitol and you saw them working All hours of the Day lobbying to get this stuff Anderson said Steve Claire Mccaffrey 16 from Pioneer attends a rally against discrimination toward lesbians Gays bisexuals and transgender students in California schools at the Capitol in Sacramento
