SO far, the mice have failed to produce a best-selling novel set in Edwardian Newcastle, but there is a little bit of Catherine Cookson in the white laboratory rodents running around Newcastle University - even if they don't know it.

Bizarrely, yesterday's announcement that the university is to invest £2m to build a special unit to breed so-called "transgenic" mice, lifted the lid on the connection between the famous Geordie author and cutting-edge medical science.

Catherine Cookson suffered from a rare disease called hereditary haemorrhagic telangeictasia (HHT) which plagued her all her life.

But before she died, she did her bit to nurture research which could one day lead to a cure for HHT, and many other serious medical conditions.

Professor John Burn, the genetics expert who is medical director of the Institute of Medical Genetics at Newcastle University, knew Catherine Cookson and his work was kick-started by the writer's generosity.

"A few years ago, she gave us the money to start this project, then the Wellcome Trust helped us out, and now we are taking things a stage further by setting up our own transgenic mouse unit," he says.

The Newcastle team bred genetically-modified mice to simulate HHT, which allowed them to figure out how the disease works.

"Catherine Cookson was crippled by HHT. She had bleeding into her stomach which needed blood transfusions every month," he recalls.

The scientists knew the gene fault was causing blood vessels to grow abnormally and burst, but could not work out what was causing the bleeding.

"We generated a mouse with the same disease and we discovered the cause of the problem. With HHT, there is missing piece of tiny muscle which forms a ring around the neck of the blood vessel to stop them getting too big. If the muscle is missing, the vessel can burst," he says.

The genetically modified mice - supplied by another UK centre - provide evidence of how the disease works.

While HHT is a very rare disease, Prof Burn has high hopes that a similar process can occur with diseases as diverse as cancer, heart disease and dementia. And that is just for starters.

"Once we have the unit up and running, we will target particular areas. Our special area is understanding children with birth defects such as holes in the heart. If you can alter the genes of mice to simulate the same problem in humans we could be well on the way to understanding the pathways that lead from genes to diseases," he says.

The beauty of using the mice is that with their rapid rate of reproduction - one mouse can become 200 in a few months - genetic conditions can be followed through in a way which would be impossible with humans.

The professor is fully aware that the use of laboratory animals is a risky business these days, but he is adamant that the work has to go on and he believes the overwhelming body of public opinion supports this view.

"This is very much an issue of balance. It is not dissimilar to the debates about abortion," he says.

"In America, there are a few people who will actually shoot you if you are even vaguely involved in abortion. But do we give in to that? Do we just say that because one person is willing to shoot someone we must stop? The answer is no, we can't."

The university has gone public about the transgenic mouse unit to make it clear that the unit is both legitimate and necessary, he says.

"I believe this is research which absolutely must be done to benefit our patients. You are talking about 30,000 genes, all inter-acting to make a human being, any one of which could go wrong to cause a disease. Trying to understand all that is like doing a 30,000 piece jigsaw with no picture on the box. You need all the help you can get. The mice are the critical extra help that we need to make real progress."

But Prof Burn's arguments cut no ice with veteran animal rights protestor Robin Webb, the public face of the Animal Liberation Front.

The fact that the Newcastle unit plans to breed the mice rather than ship them in from outside is neither here nor there to ALF supporters who object in principle to the use of laboratory animals.

"The ALF stance is that the use of animals for medical research is immoral and that anywhere that has a licence from the Home Office to do so is a legitimate target," he says.

The activist argues that there is more than enough evidence which shows that medical testing on animals does not benefit humans and is pointless and cruel.

"Tucked away in a report from one of the major drug companies was the fact that, of the drugs found safe and effective by animal testing, 95 per cent were rejected after trials on humans. I can't think of any other area of commerce that would think a five per cent success rate was good business practice.

"It is scientifically invalid and any medical advances claimed through animal research is in spite of, not because of, that research."

Genetic modification of laboratory animals is "science running out of control", he claims. And the notion that using animals will help cure people of crippling disease also does not impress him.

"Many physically disadvantaged people campaign against animal research. They don't want pain caused to other creatures to alleviate their pain," he says.

But Prof Burn disagrees: "We are totally convinced that what we are doing is ethical and necessary. We hope that the public will support what we do.

"Our information so far is that, while people have some reservations about some aspects of animal research, there is a general public consensus that, if it is for a good medical application, that working with transgenic mice is defensible. We know our patients will support us and we hope the general public will too."