Insight problems animals

Toxicogenomics studies are usually carried out in rodents, and methods such as the ones outlined above could be used to infer pathway mechanisms and further functional insights. But translating inferences from animal data to mechanism of action in humans remains a difficult problem to solve. 

Apiology also has provided insight into the diseases and enemies of the honeybee. Extensive research is conducted on mites and their control within the colony. Out of the study of bacterial problems such as foulbrood (a disease that attacks honeybee larvae), new practices in apiary management have emerged that can control these devastating honeybee enemies. Likewise, apiology provides an understanding of the symbiotic relationships that exist between bees and other insects as well as other animals. 

There are at least two reasons why these problems deserve your attention. First, almost by definition, orphan diseases are untrodden territory for research. TTie pharmaceutical industry is unlikely to work on these conditions because they provide little financial incentive. Biologists are also unlikely to pursue them because, with the exception of a few Mendelian diseases (single-gene disorders), animal models are lacking. Their low prevalence also makes them difficult to study in humans. So, between the test tube and the patient, there is an enormous gap, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that the health (and sometimes even the survival) of a patient with an orphan disease depends on the quality of molecular insight that emerges... 

---