Preclinical Murine Pharmacogenetics Core
About the Preclinical Murine Pharmacogenetics Core Facility
Improving Human Health Through Preclinical Trials in Mouse Models of Human Disease
The goal of our facility, which is partially funded by Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, is to provide expertise in the design and implementation of preclinical trials to test new drugs, drug combinations and novel therapeutic modalities in mouse models of human diseases.
In the last decade, substantial advances in technology have allowed us to gain powerful insight into the molecular and genetic determinants that drive human diseases. Mouse models have been at the forefront of this revolution, enabling us to faithfully recapitulate the features of many human diseases.
Importantly, not only do mouse models represent an invaluable tool to study genetic alterations associated with diseases, but they also represent an excellent platform for the pre-clinical assessment of new drugs and other therapeutic approaches aimed at eradication of disease.
Harnessing these models for therapeutic gain will have an important impact on human health, as results will be utilized to facilitate the identification of patient subtype through key genetic determinants and biomarkers that predict response to specific treatments.
The powerful applicability of this approach is exemplified by the optimization of therapeutic agents for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), a subtype of acute myelogenous leukemia, where the use of faithful mouse models of APL has been instrumental in informing and optimizing successful clinical trials.