What is the strangest disease one of your mouse models has helped a scientist understand ?

Question: What is the strangest disease one of your mouse models has helped a scientist understand ?
- Keywords:
  animal model,
  disease,
  research
Asked by Amelie on 1 Jul 2024.
- Kirsty Ross answered on 1 Jul 2024:
  
  I learnt an interesting technique from a group in the Netherlands. Basically, it was a model of otitis media (posh name for ear infection). I put a small drop of bacterial cells onto the nose of the sleeping mice, then put them in a special chamber that increased the air pressure around them to about 3 x atmospheric pressure. This made them sniff to unblock their ears, and it sucked the bacteria into their ears, causing an infection. This was to test my vaccine and see if it protected them from ear infections.