How Ferrets Are Helping Researchers Battle Covid-19
LIKE EVERY ANIMAL MODEL, ferrets have limitations. Thomas Geisbert, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, who’s worked with ferrets to study illnesses such as the Ebola virus, says, “They can be difficult to work with because you don’t have as many reagents as you do for mice or monkeys.” Reagents are lab substances that help scientists detect biomarkers.
1. Department of Medical Microbiology and Retroscreen Virology, St. Bartholomew's and the Royal London, Queen Mary School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London, 327 Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK.