Managing all those zebrafish

Zebrafish are making a splash in the biomedical world. Advantages abound: transparent larvae (and lots of them); genetic overlap with humans as well as anatomical and physiological similarities; ease of transgenic manipulation. And they're relatively cheap to keep around, too, compared to a mouse. But as more and more labs adopt Danio rerio as a model organism, they must adapt their animal facilities from vivaria to aquaria. Arlene Weintraub looks at the value of zebrafish and the technical and logistical challenges of caring for this increasingly important little fish in a new Technology Feature.

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Why do you need that mouse?

An investigator wants to study a specific signalling pathway in mice...that also happens to exist in fruit flies. When asked to justify the use of mice instead of an invertebrate alternative on an IACUC protocol submission, is “translation to humans” the best answer? Protocol Review this month addresses the need for appropriate justification from PI when a reviewer has reason to question the choice of a vertebrate model.

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