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ScienceIsSexy420 t1_iw37e4z wrote

Reply to comment by Allchemyst in How do medical researchers obtain lab animals with diseases like specific forms of cancer which arise spontaneously? Do they raise thousands of apes and hope some eventually develop the disease? by userbrn1

Additionally, these induced tumor cells have the advantage of being isotopically labeled, making tracking the tumor progression much easier to quantify for comparisons.

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Astaro t1_iw46u0v wrote

Why would new cancer cells include the isotope labels of thier parents? Wouldn't the amount of isotope halve with each cell division?

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Chemputer t1_iwok3yc wrote

Of course, but it's very long down the line before it becomes undetectable much less low enough to be baseline.

That is actually useful in determining how many cell divisions have happened.

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