With the outstanding Covid19 outbreak that is changing lifestyles of the affected population starting from China and now the entire world, there is not only a need but an emergency to develop a vaccine or compound to fight the virus. This testing all starts from animal models to determine whether treatments are safe and effective.
Jackson labs has, in the past, created an hACE2 transgenic mouse model for former severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) disease that helped to understand the mechanism of actions during the last outbreak at the end of 2002.
This mouse model could be re-used for the actual Covid19 infection since a recently published study showed the new virus accesses the human cells through the same mechanism.
On the other hand, tools that allows us to remotely monitor the health of the animals are missing. With the advent of DVC® for ISO CAGE, researchers now have the possibility of studying and recording the welfare of the animals through remote monitoring of locomotor activity and potentially define the beneficial effects of a novel vaccine.
References
Digital ventilated cage (DVC®) in Covid19 Research: immediate mice sickness detection
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