Returning research to the natural world could help improve the understanding of immune systems and contagious diseases, says a multidisciplinary research team.
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The team, who represent more than 10 universities and research institutes, published their theory in the academic journal Science on Friday.
UTAS Menzies Institute for Medical Research senior research fellow Dr Andrew Flies, who is apart of the Australian Wild and Comparative Immunology group, said studying immune systems in the natural world would help scientists better understand why some animals survive viruses such as COVID-19.
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"Most biomedical research happens in laboratory mice, a few rats, and then tries to go to human trials," he said.
"Most of those mouse studies don't translate into any real benefit in the human clinic - so what we are saying is rather than relying so heavily on the traditional model ... lets look at a lot more species and lets look at them in their natural environment.
"We think if you integrate some of these other models early on - say you try it in a lab mouse then try it in a wild mouse if it still works there is good support to try it in a larger animal ... but if it only works in the lab mouse ... it is probably not going to work in a human."
He said by expanding the study of immunology to include more animals researchers may be able to identify possible cures before viruses transfer to humans.
"If we look at these other animals and we look at how their immune system is dealing with the pathogen or the thing that will cause disease we can learn something," Dr Flies said. "It allows us to zoom in right away on a drug we can use or develop ... a potential vaccine target."
Monash University Associate Professor Anne Peters, who co-authored the paper, said they hoped the paper would inspire other specialists around the globe to collaborate.
Western Sydney University Associate Professor Julie Old, who also co-authored the paper, echoed the importance of including more species in research efforts.
"If we want to evolve our understanding of the immune system, and potentially get ahead of any future pandemics, the research community needs to expand," she said.
"We need to broaden our scope, and bring new species and new environments into the research paradigm."
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