Due to the around 80-percent similarity between the mouse and human genome, mice are of great assistance in the study of human
diseases. Mouse strains can therefore be used to build models of genetic diseases that affect humans. Such models can be used to study
the causal mechanisms of diseases and to design drugs.
Dosent Reetta Hinttala is the Coordinator of the Transgenic Core Facility at Biocenter Oulu. The facility is part of the European
INFRAFRONTIER infrastructure. INFRAFRONTIER provides researchers around the world with access to mouse models for the study of genomes
and diseases.
Within the Faculty of Medicine’s PEDEGO Research Unit at the University of Oulu, Reetta Hinttala uses mouse models to study rare
inherited diseases. Mouse models help to identify the genes causing illnesses. “Mouse models are a key element in gene research. They enable scientists to study disease genes and mechanisms at organism level. A model provides basic information on how a disease progresses. By studying mice of various ages, we can discover what happens in different tissues during each stage of a disease.”
ELIXIR is partly funded by the European Commission