The National Model Animal Science Center was unveiled on Wednesday in Zhuozhou City, north China's Hebei Province, focusing on technologies and advancements in future agriculture, biotechnology, food, and health.
The center has a particular focus on animal models, or non-human species used in biomedical research, which play a significant role in disease simulation, drug screening, and genetic research.
Pigs, due to their similarities to humans in genetic, metabolic, physiological, and biochemical characteristics, are major subjects for studying human diseases and xenotransplantation.
Primarily organized by China Agricultural University, the science center features cutting-edge equipment and technologies designed to modify genes precisely and create pig models that simulate complex human diseases, advancing the development of new drugs.
"We can utilize all the large-scale equipment to examine pigs comprehensively. For instance, we can create models simulating diseases such as cancer, infectious diseases, and cardiovascular conditions, which aid in texture analysis and drug research and development," said Zhao Yaofeng, a professor at the College of Biological Sciences at China Agricultural University.
China's National Model Animal Science Center unveiled to advance agriculture, biomedical science
