Female Mice Behave Nicely After All (Video)

With the help of a machine learning algorithm, an age-old theory that kept female mice out of research studies is turned on its head

It certainly is no secret that male animals dominate research, or that men are more represented in clinical trials than women. In preclinical research at least, researchers have held to the theory that hormonal fluctuations across the estrous cycle make data from female mice to be too variable to be reliable. This is the key reason why male animals, predominantly male mice, are typically the ones studied in research. 

However, not only does this bias the outcomes of studies in favor of males, it turns out that the notion that female animals behave badly doesn't hold up in the sandbox. 

A study led by researchers from Harvard and Northeastern Universities, and published in Current Biology, found that the behavior of male mice was actually more variable than females. The researchers were able to reach this conclusion with the help of machine learning algorithms that enabled unbiased, high-dimensional analysis of mouse behavior. What do these findings mean for research, and how do the data compare to other studies? Eureka's Senior Scientific Writer Mary Parker spoke recently with Liz Nunamaker, Director of Animal Welfare at Charles River Laboratories to learn more.