A group of government researchers working for a National Institutes of Health laboratory in Montana made “humanized mice” by implanting the mice with tissues cut from human livers and thymuses taken from babies at 17 to 22 weeks gestational age.
The researchers then published a paper describing how they constructed this particular type of “humanized” mouse, saying they hoped their description of the process would help other researchers seeking to make such mice in the future.
The same government researchers had collaborated on another journal article about the “humanized” mouse with an NIH-funded researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital–which has an ongoing federal grant that also involves humanizing mice using human fetal livers and thymuses.
The NIH could not answer some basic questions about the fetal tissue used in these research projects that U.S. taxpayers funded.
