VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT FUNDS ZEBRA FISH RESEARCH UNIT
November 20th 2008 08:27
Tuesday November 18, 2008
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VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT
Victoria’s Innovation Minister Gavin Jennings opened the Zebrafish Core Research Facility at Monash University’s Clayton Campus today.
In a media release, the Victorian Government said zebrafish had “amazing regenerative properties [and] could hold the key to finding better treatments for muscular dystrophy and heart disease”.
Research on the fish will be used “in the fight against incurable diseases” using the $5 million facility developed by the Victorian Government and Monash University.
“The Zebrafish Core Research Facility is part of the $153 million Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute which is a partnership between Monash University and the Brumby Government,” Mr Jennings said.
He said the research facility would “enable Victorian scientists to better understand how genes control normal development and to characterize the actions of mutations responsible for conditions such as muscular dystrophy and heart disease”.
“This is an important investment for Victoria and will position the state as a world-leader in regenerative medicine, helping Melbourne to become one of the top five centres in the world for biotechnology by 2010 leading to better treatment or prevention of these diseases,” Mr Jennings said.
The media release said the six centimetre fish were “good models for human disease as they have muscle development similar to humans but also have regenerative properties far greater than in humans, enabling them to repair damaged muscle”.
The deputy director of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute Prof Peter Currie said zebrafish gave researchers “an insight into a range of things that we haven’t been able to investigate before”.
“Its transparent embryo and rapid development allow us to see in great detail how it grows and develops,” Prof Currie said.
The Ludwig Institute’s co-head of colon molecular and cell biology laboratory Prof Joan Heath told Biotech Daily that Prof Currie’s interest was in muscular disease and he had fish that were a model for muscular dystrophy.
Prof Heath said zebrafish were a vertebrate model for human disease and were “much more amenable to large scale genetic screens than any other vertebrate”.
“We study intestinal development which we hope will help better inform us of the genetic pathways involved in colorectal cancer,” Prof Heath said.
“Unlike mice, there are several advantages of zebrafish and the main one is housing.
“We have 200,000 fish potentially in the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute. That number of mice would be very difficult to maintain,” she said.
“For genetic research we need many mutations and then we look at the consequences and screen across lots of embryos,” Prof Heath said.
“It is much easier to do that with zebrafish which can generate 200-400 embryos carrying mutations once or twice a week, compared to a mouse giving a litter of up to 12 mice once every three weeks.
“And from the moment of fertilization the whole process can be observed in these transparent embryos,” Prof Heath said.
Prof Heath said the facility would be well-placed for undergraduates to study development biology as a major in their degrees and provide a greater understanding of zebrafish as a model for human disease.
The Victorian Government said it provided $35 million towards the construction and fit out costs of Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute and Monash University spent $103 million.
The Federal Government provided $15 million for specialized equipment.
At the opening, a zebrafish with a red fluorescent heart was named Gavin for the Minister.
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