OncoMouse

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Definition

OncoMouse is both a noun and a trademark. OncoMouse describes a transgenic mouse carrying an activated human cancer gene, used in laboratory experiments.[1] Philip Leder and Timothy A Stewart[2] of Harvard University designed the mouse to carry an activated oncogene, a gene that in certain circumstances can transform a cell into a tumor cell. This makes suitable for cancer research. The rights to the invention are owned by DuPont. "OncoMouse" is a registered trademark.[3]

OncoMouse was also the first patented animal. Two patents were awarded to Harvard College describing methods for "providing a cell culture from a transgenic non-human animal".[4]

Related Reading

  • Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium.FemaleMan©Meets_OncoMouse™: Feminism and Technoscience, New York: Routledge, 1997 (winner of the Ludwig Fleck Prize). ISBN 0-415-91245-8.

References

  1. Jump up New Oxford American Dictionary. 2011.
  2. Jump up European Patent Register entry for European patent no. 0169672, under "Inventor(s)". Consulted on February 22, 2008.
  3. Jump up Trademark: USPTO serial number 75797027
  4. Jump up U.S. Patent 5,087,571; filed Mar 22, 1988, issued Feb 11, 1992, expired Feb 11, 2009) and testing methods using transgenic mice expressing an oncogene, U.S. Patent 5,925,803; filed Sep 19, 1991, issued Jul 20, 1999, expires July 20, 2016.