Beyond the genome : animal experimentation.

Geneticist Steve Jones considers the role of animals in research in this post-genomic era. David Bentley explains how we can now pinpoint individual genes for research. Peter Singer and Jan Kremer are against animal research, but Josephine Peters says it is necessary to do 'whole organism' research, and explains how genetic engineering works on mice. This method has been used to treat Severe combined immunodeficiency, SCID, and is working on two patients. The next hope for gene therapy is retinitis pigmentosa which affects the rod photo-receptor cells in 1/3000 people. Experiments on mice are successful and clinical trials for red setters will start soon.