Mice (Mus musculus)

Mice at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory have unlimited access to food and water unless an experiment makes it necessary to restrict their food or liquid intake.

© Friedrich Miescher Laboratory

Mice at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory have unlimited access to food and water unless an experiment makes it necessary to restrict their food or liquid intake.

© Friedrich Miescher Laboratory

Mice are one of the most important animal models in medical and biological research. We house several hundred mice from a variety of strains. Mice are small, social animals that grow quickly and share many biological similarities with humans.

In our lab, mice are kept in carefully controlled environments with constant access to food, water, and enrichment materials. Their health is monitored daily by trained animal care staff.

Mice are especially valuable in regeneration research because—like all mammals—they do not regenerate limbs after injury. By comparing mice to regenerative animals like frog tadpoles, scientists can study why mammals lose this ability and what might be done to restore it. This helps us understand not only how tissues heal, but also how we might one day trigger regeneration in humans.