Latest Zebrafish Stories

Michigan State University researchers say they have created an improved zebra fish cloning method in a study that might further human health research. A team of scientists say their new and more efficient way of cloning zebra fish is important because zebra fish are becoming the animal of choice for many researchers. After the mouse, it is the most commonly used vertebrate in genetic studies, said Professor Jose Cibelli, who led the study. It is used in cancer research and cardiovascular...

A team of Michigan State University researchers has developed a new, more efficient way of cloning zebra fish, a breakthrough that could have implications for human health research.The work of the MSU researchers, detailed in the recent issue of the journal Nature Methods, is important because zebra fish, small striped fish common to many aquariums, are quickly becoming the animal of choice for many researchers."After the mouse, it is the most commonly used vertebrate in genetic...

When you were a kid your mom poured it on your scraped finger to stave off infection. When you got older you might have even used it to bleach your hair. Now there's another possible function for this over-the-counter colorless liquid: your body might be using hydrogen peroxide as an envoy that marshals troops of healing cells to wounded tissue.Using the zebrafish as an animal model, researchers in the lab of Harvard Medical School professor of systems biology Timothy Mitchison and Dana...

The pigmented cells in zebrafish help scientists tease out how oncogenes that are know to contribute to cancer, influence the formation and regulation of the aggressive human skin cancer, melanomaIn a new study published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, scientists use the zebrafish to gain insight into the influence of known cancer genes on the development and progression of melanoma, an aggressive form of human skin cancer with limited treatment options.Inside the cell, signals are...

U.S. medical scientists say their discovery that an embryo's heartbeat drives blood cell formation might lead to new treatments for blood diseases. Biologists have long wondered why the embryonic heart begins beating so early, before tissues actually need to be infused with blood. Now two groups of researchers from Children's Hospital Boston, Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute say they have the answer. Using multiple lines of evidence from zebrafish, mice and...

A recent study reveals evidence that blood cells of an embryo grow only under conditions of pressure by a beating heart, Reuters reported.  The results make clear why an embryo's heart begins palpitating in the first weeks of conception, and additionally facilitates support for new stem cell-based treatments for numerous blood disorders including leukemia.  Dr. George Daley of Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston said, "In learning how the heartbeat stimulates...

Clues about how blood forms could yield new strategies for treating blood diseasesBiologists have long wondered why the embryonic heart begins beating so early, before the tissues actually need to be infused with blood. Two groups of researchers from Children's Hospital Boston, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) -"“ presenting multiple lines of evidence from zebrafish, mice and mouse embryonic stem cells -"“ provide an intriguing answer: A beating...

Blood stem cells literally go with the flow, according to a new report published as an immediate early publication in the journal Cell, a Cell Press journal, on May 13th. Researchers have found that a heart beat and blood circulation are critical signals for the production of blood-forming, or hematopoietic, stem cells in the developing embryo.The evidence found in zebrafish and mice may lead to new methods to coax embryonic stem cell-like cells (known as induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS...

Experiments with zebra fish are helping identify genes linked to retinal diseases that cause blindness, a Purdue University scientist said. Once we know the genetic network that influences retinal development, we can begin to understand the changes in specific genes that lead to vision loss, Yuk Fai Leung said. With such information, treatments could be developed to prevent or reverse diseases such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, he said. Using zebra fish, which are closer...

Among zebrafish, the eyes have it. Inside them is a mosaic of light-sensitive cells whose structure and functions are nearly identical to those of humans. There, biologists at The Florida State University discovered a gene mutation that determines if the cells develop as rods (the photoreceptors responsible for dim-light vision) or as cones (the photoreceptors needed for color vision).Described in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the landmark...