Will Supermice mean Supermen?

Check out this article on some of the latest resarch from Case Western Reserve University:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=220&objectid=10473819&ref=rss

Excerpts from the article where CWRU professor of biochemistry, Richard Hanson, describes the "supermouse":

"They are metabolically similar to Lance Armstrong biking up the Pyrenees. They utilise mainly fatty acids for energy and produce very little lactic acid. They are not eating or drinking and yet they can run for four or five hours. They are 10 times more active than ordinary mice in their home cage. They also live longer - up to three years - and are reproductively active for almost three years. In short, they are remarkable animals.

"On the downside, they eat twice as much as control mice, but they are half the weight, and are very aggressive. Why this is the case, we are not really sure."

"We humans have exactly the same gene. But this is not something that you'd do to a human. It's completely wrong. We do not think that this mouse model is an appropriate model for human gene therapy. It is not possible to introduce genes into the skeletal muscles of humans and it would not be ethical to even try."

Hanson acknowledged it would be possible that athletes could abuse any future drug developed using these findings.

Looks like Dr. EPO has some professional competition.

;)