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A Fishy Tale

July 10, 2003

Recently returned from the United States, Dr. Breandan Kennedy will establish the largest Irish facility for the study of zebrafish in the Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin.

These tiny, freshwater fish, typically found in rice paddies or slow-moving streams, can be used to study genetics and developmental biology. Zebrafish have many genetic traits that are similar to humans because they also possess a backbone.

First used in scientific research in the 1970's, zebrafish have become a popular model to study embryonic development from the moment of fertilisation. The National Institutes of Health signified the importance of the zebrafish genome by concentrating efforts to uncover the entire blueprint once that of the human and mouse had been deciphered.

Zebrafish have many features, which make them an ideal laboratory model. They produce large numbers of eggs daily that become fully developed within forty-eight hours. These eggs develop outside the body of the mother so she is unharmed as they are collected for use and the eggs are transparent, which makes laboratory observation easier.

With provision for 300 to 400 tanks in the new facility, Dr. Breandan Kennedy and his team will have ease of access to material for their research. At present, the focus of their research is on the study of the genes involved in the development and function of the eye in health and in blindness as well as the genetic make-up of the pineal gland, which controls circadian rhythms or our "body clock".

Dr. Kennedy hopes that by "creating fish models of disease, we will be able to screen for drug treatment to these diseases in the near future". This research project, funded by the Health Research Board will begin in earnest as the Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research opens for business in August 2003.

Ends
July 10th 2003.

UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular & Biomedical Research

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