Taconic Biosciences' Alex Maue, PhD, was interviewed for this article in Nature which examines introducing wild mice into a laboratory normally suited for germ-free mice, and how these 'dirty' models will allow researchers "to look at different mechanisms of protective immunity that you wouldn't find in the normal mouse model":
"On an unseasonably warm February morning, Mark Pierson takes a 20-minute drive to one of Minneapolis's larger pet shops. Pierson, a researcher in an immunology laboratory at the University of Minnesota, often comes here to buy mice, so most of the staff know him. Today he asks for ten, and an employee fishes them out of a glass box. Pierson requests the smaller mice because they're typically younger, but he isn't too picky. They probably all have what he wants: germs."
Read the complete article at: Nature.com
"On an unseasonably warm February morning, Mark Pierson takes a 20-minute drive to one of Minneapolis's larger pet shops. Pierson, a researcher in an immunology laboratory at the University of Minnesota, often comes here to buy mice, so most of the staff know him. Today he asks for ten, and an employee fishes them out of a glass box. Pierson requests the smaller mice because they're typically younger, but he isn't too picky. They probably all have what he wants: germs."