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TORONTO — At a laboratory in Mississauga, Ont., pieces of Rob Ford are growing inside a dozen or so special mice — and could give the former Toronto mayor a new edge against his aggressive cancer.

Ford, 46, is among the first patients in Canada to use a novel system for trying to pinpoint the most effective chemotherapy drugs, with chunks of patients’ tumours transplanted into and grown in the rodents.

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The mice are subjected to different chemo cocktails, and the most effective is then used on the human patient.

The ex-mayor’s tumour grafts have been in mouse development for about three months now, and should be ready for testing this week or next, his brother, Doug Ford, said in an interview Monday.

Although the technology is still considered experimental, Doug Ford said he’s been won over by the idea, and hopeful it will help his city-councillor sibling turn the corner.

“Right now — no fault to the doctors in Canada — but they’re really rolling the dice and guessing what chemo they use on any cancer patient,” he said. “When they do the (mouse) program, they can really nail it down.”