Zebrafish

Zebra Fish, Zebra Danios, or Danio rerio, are small fish that originate from streams in India. They have recently come to prevalence in the scientific community for research, as they have many attributes that make them a great model organism. In the CHAOS lab, zebrafish is the most commonly used animal for experimentation, and are mainly used in Optical Mapping and Microelectrode. Zebrafish as a model organism High fecundity Short generation time - reaches full adulthood in about 3 month Smaller space requirement that other vertebrate models like mice - make them a much more financially feasible option It is easy to produce large numbers of zebrafish in a laboratory setting Almost fully sequenced genome that is highly conserved with humans For studying cardiovascular disorders Heart function can be assessed visually - can visually monitor dynamic cellular events There are a huge variety of mutants that resemble human disorders Heart can regenerate quickly after injury