Research animals die in Sandy’s wake

New York, NY – When the back-up generators failed at the New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center the 300 patients were evacuated safely to other hospitals. The center’s animal research facility was abandoned and the thousands of laboratory mice perished in the storm meaning that years of research were lost. According to ABC News, the Smilow Research Center, at NYU, lost unique strains of mice and other specimens critical to research in heart disease, cancer and neurodegeneration.

It will most likely take years to recover the lost work since to acquire mice with the appropriate modifications for the research can take several years. Students working on their dissertations will have suffered a great setback in their studies as well.