Zebrafish as a Model for Biomedical Studies—2nd Edition
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 October 2025 | Viewed by 3551
Special Issue Editor
Interests: epigenetics; zebrafish model; cancer
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In the 1950s, the zebrafish emerged as a model for studying early development but was rapidly used in broader research fields. The success of the zebrafish in research is mainly due to the attributes that make it an exceptional experimental model. Notably, zebrafish are robust and easy to maintain at low husbandry costs. Zebrafish have a high fecundity rate, producing around 100–200 embryos per clutch and per week, making statistical analyses robust. Zebrafish embryos develop externally and are optically clear, providing a remarkable platform for microscopic observations of early development. The zebrafish genome is fully sequenced, and a comparison to the human reference genome revealed that about 84% of genes involved in human diseases have a zebrafish orthologue. Thousands of zebrafish mutants coming from large-scale mutagenesis screens are available. Additionally, a variety of genetic engineering approaches, such as transgenesis, morpholino-mediated gene expression knockdown, or genome-editing technologies, can be applied to the zebrafish model to question the function of genes. Over the last two decades, the zebrafish has continued to increase in popularity, becoming increasingly used to investigate human disease mechanisms, to model human pathologies, and for drug discovery. At present, the zebrafish model is largely applied to the biomedical field in order to study a wide range of human diseases including developmental syndromes, metabolic defects, neurological and behavioral disorders, cancer, and host–microbe interactions.
The goal of this Special Issue is to present the current knowledge on the use of the zebrafish model in biomedical research in order to decipher the molecular mechanisms responsible for human diseases and to set up rational strategies for drug discovery.
The formats for submissions include original research reports, reviews, perspectives/opinions, and methodology articles.
Prof. Dr. Pierre-Olivier Angrand
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- zebrafish
- cancer
- metabolic diseases
- neurological disorders
- infectious diseases
- xenografts
- drug discovery
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