ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,274,247, issued on April 15, was assigned to Hera Testing Laboratories Inc. (Lexington, Ky.).

"Genetically modified rat models for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID)" was invented by Eric M. Ostertag (Del Mar, Calif.), John Stuart Crawford (Lexington, Ky.) and Joseph Ruiz (Lexington, Ky.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "This invention relates to the engineering of animal cells, preferably mammalian, more preferably rat, that are deficient due to the disruption of tumor suppressor gene(s) or gene product(s). In another aspect, the invention relates to genetically modified rats, as well as the descendants and ancestors of such animals, w...