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Oncologist Dr Azra Raza is the director of the MDS Center at Columbia University, where she moves the latest cancer therapies from theory to practice. Here's her Ted Talk against using mice for cancer treatment in humans:

"Cancer is going to strike one in two men and one in three women. So we're not exactly winning the war on this disease. Tremendous advances have been made in understanding the biology of cancer but treatment options have not kept pace with the biologic understanding.

One of the reasons is that our system for developing drugs for cancer is essentially broke. We CAN and SHOULD do better. I am here on this stage today really because of the mouse. Earlier this year I pointed out that one of the reasons we are not developing novel therapies for cancer fast enough is that we have been relying too much on animal models. I've been getting hate mails since then, but the fact of the matter is that we cured acute myeloid leukemia in mice back in 1977 and in humans to day we are using the same drugs with absolutely dreadful results.

We have to stop studying mice because it is essentially pointless and we have to start studying freshly obtained human cells".