The Monument to the Laboratory Mouse stands in a park in front of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in Akademgorodok, Novosibirsk, Russia. Alexei Agrikolyansky was the sculptor and Andrey Kharkevich the designer. The institute installed it with financial support from CJSC Medico-Biological Union. The foundation stone was laid on June 1, 2012, and the monument was completed on July 1, 2013.
The bronze figure is about 28 inches (70 centimeters) tall, and the total height with its granite pedestal is 8 feet (2.5 meters). Maxim Petrov cast the bronze in Tomsk.
The mouse wears pince-nez and holds knitting needles. It knits a DNA double helix that winds to the left, which represents Z-DNA, a form that scientists still understand poorly. The more common right-winding B-DNA provides the contrast.
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