ABSTRACT
This chapter describes part of the story that relates to basic studies in immunology and oncology, with a slight personal hue that could not be retrieved from the computerized files. The nude mouse had already been known for its lack of hair since 1962, when it was found in the Virus Laboratory, Ruchill Hospital, Glasgow, Scotland. The mutation occurred in a closed but not inbred stock of albino mice. In the wake of the report on the athymic condition of the nude mouse, an intense interest in this experimental animal arose, and breeding colonies were distributed from the Institute for Animal Genetics, Edinburgh, Scotland in late 1968. The history of the nude mouse and developments in its application can best be followed by studying the proceedings of the various workshops that have been devoted to this animal model.
