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"It takes about a year to produce them if everything is ideal and perfect, and usually everything isn't, " says Fishell.
CNN: Rebuilding NYU's research labs after Superstorm Sandy
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Fishell's lab chemicals survived for the most part, but he lost most of his mouse population that was critical to his investigation of diseases like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and epilepsy.
CNN: Rebuilding NYU's research labs after Superstorm Sandy
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Fortunately, Fishell, like many other researchers, shared some of his strains with other research institutions that are willing to provide him with mice for breeding, making the task slightly less daunting.
CNN: Rebuilding NYU's research labs after Superstorm Sandy
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Still, before Sandy hit, Fishell had approximately 800 different strains of mice, of which about 20 were uniquely bred by his team, each with several layers of modifications that he was tracking over several generations.
CNN: Rebuilding NYU's research labs after Superstorm Sandy
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The researchers hardest hit are those who rely on animals for the better part of their experiments, such as Dr. Gordon Fishell, the associate director of the NYU Neuroscience Institute, whose work focuses on connecting brain function to disease.
CNN: Rebuilding NYU's research labs after Superstorm Sandy