JIM RISWOLD
MON AMI, ONCOMOUSE
2013 color digital print 63 x 13-1/2 inches
Edition of 10

$1000.


Philip Leder and Timothy Stewart are the parents of a mouse.

In 1984, Leder and Stewart created a genetically modified mouse to
carry a specific oncogene that significantly increased the mouse’s susceptibility
to cancer which, in turn, made the mouse more suitable for testing
chemotherapies.

They named their mouse OncoMouse.

In 1988, Leder and Stewart successfully received a patent for their Onco-
Mouse, making the mouse the first animal ever patented.

Exactly 70 years before the birth of OncoMouse, Dr. William Seaman
Bainbridge wrote, “Throughout the centuries the sufferer from this disease
[cancer] has been the subject of almost every conceivable form of experimentation.
. . . Hardly any animal has escaped making its contribution,
in hair or hide, tooth or toenail, thymus or thyroid, liver or spleen, in the
vain search by man for a means of relief.”

A genetically modified mouse bred to get cancer is certainly no exception.

Thank you, OncoMouse®.