Zebrafish – Swimming to the Forefront of Disease Research

— The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is perhaps the model organism with the fastest rising popularity in science right now. Model organisms are not organisms that get dressed up and pose for pictures (although that would be cool). Model organisms are a tool for scientists to better understand biology. Have you ever heard someone say that to truly understand how something works, you have to take it apart and then put it back together? It’s a similar story with disease, except incredibly difficult (both ethically and technically) to manipulate a human just to figure out how his disease works. Instead, scientists study model organisms, organisms that have shared biological properties with humans thanks to evolution, to figure out how diseases work. These model organisms can range from yeast (Saccaromyces cerevisiae) to chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and everything in between. There are advantages and disadvantages to every type of model organism, with the overarching caveat that none of them are exactly like humans, so what exactly are the different model organisms and what makes them useful? Continue reading Zebrafish – Swimming to the Forefront of Disease Research