Lack of laboratory animals for research on covid-19

The work of researching vaccines and drugs against covid-19 is slowed down by the lack of laboratory animals needed. In a feature in the Swedish Broadcasting Cooperation’s Science show Vetenskapsradion Associate Professor Ali Harandi states that it researchers have to wait for a s long as seven months for access to transgenic mice. In connection with the first SARS infection in 2002, a company in the United States developed genetically modified mice for research, where the mice received the ACE2 receptor that the virus uses to infect cells. At that time, vaccine research became a setback, and the company closed down its mouse breed. For a few weeks now the mice are available again, but the waiting times are very long. Read more in the journal Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00698-x