Hello,
I will try to keep it short. I guess this question will be mostly to immunologists, but input from other fields (genetics, cell biology, etc) is very much welcomed. So I will be applying to graduate school, possibly next year (or the following year). I have worked in the lab, however on not-immunology related projects. I wanted to pursue a PhD in autoimmunity/immune regulation/tolerance, primarily on molecular/cellular level. This summer I realized that literally every paper on these topic involves mice. The problem is that I am allergic to mice. Severely allergic, meaning I cannot work with them. I have known that mice are the most common models used in biomedical sciences, but I didn't realize that working with them is actually one of the most important part of almost every project (killing, dissection, isolation of tissues/cells, etc). For some reasons, I've never thought it would be a problem.
Hence my question for anyone who is in the field of biomedical sciences - do you think it is manageable to do biomedical research (on a cellular or molecular level) with animal allergy? Will it limit my options of doing research substantially? If you are in the field of immune regulation/tolerance, do you know of any interesting projects that are ongoing and do not involve animals?
Apologies if my question is naive, but I will really appreciate all the advice.
Thanks!