Disease Modeling - InVivo Biosystems

Modeling Rare Diseases in Caenorhabditis elegans

Disease Modeling, Gene Editing / By Drs. Ben Nebenfuehr and Andy Golden, NIH / July 24, 2017 November 10, 2020

There are approximately 7,000 rare diseases in humans, ~80% of which are monogenic. A rare disease is defined as affecting less than one in 1,500 people. Combined, these rare diseases affect nearly 1 in 10 Americans (25 to 30 million people), and treatments only exist for around 5% of these diseases. Thanks to the advent of whole genome sequencing, the gene(s) responsible for many rare diseases are known, opening the door for more comprehensive studies.

Worms, Flies or Fish? A Comparison of Common Model Organisms — Part 2: Models for human diseases

Disease Modeling, Drug Discovery / By Yoanne Clovis, Ph.D. / June 29, 2017 March 22, 2021

Non-mammalian model organisms are typically used in early research to deliver fast answers to a discovery problem. The most popular model organisms in biological and biomedical research are the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the zebrafish and the nematode C. elegans. We provide an overview of the advantages and limitations of these organisms as models for human diseases in this post

Aging studies use C. elegans to test bacterial genes

Aging & Healthspan, Disease Modeling / By Matt Beaudet, CEO / June 19, 2017 November 10, 2020

Interesting data using C. elegans for studying the impact your gut microbiome may have on your lifespan and healthspan from the Wang Lab at Baylor College of Medicine. The study highlights the power of C. elegans as a tool for whole animal discovery – the work would have been impossible to carry out using cultured cells and would have been prohibitively expensive in mice.

New phenotype discovered for NPC disease using C. elegans

Disease Modeling / By InVivo Biosystems / April 28, 2017 November 10, 2020

We discovered that in the absence of cholesterol, NPC mutants display a lower pharyngeal pumping frequency and a longer duration between pumps than control N2 animals. This is the progress we made in our collaborative research project with Perlara and investigation into the lysosomal disorder, Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC).

Worms, Flies or Fish? A Comparison of Common Model Organisms – Part 1: Models for Biomedical Research

Disease Modeling, Drug Discovery / By Yoanne Clovis, Ph.D. / April 25, 2017 March 22, 2021

Non-mammalian model organisms are typically used in early research to deliver fast answers to a discovery problem. The most popular model organisms in biological and biomedical research are the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the zebrafish and the nematode C. elegans. We provide a comparison of the advantages and limitations of many commonly used model organisms.

The cerebellum of a brain affected by Niemann-Pick Type C; blue staining shows the dense pockets of lipid accumulations throughout the brain

Searching for a cure for Niemann-Pick Type C using C. elegans

Disease Modeling, Gene Editing / By Terra Hiebert, Ph.D. and Yoanne Clovis, Ph.D. / April 13, 2017 November 10, 2020

Niemann-Pick Type C is a rare and fatal disorder affecting children. We explore the efficacy of new potential therapeutics with the ScreenChip System.

Health markers are impaired in aging C. elegans

Aging & Healthspan, Disease Modeling / By Yoanne Clovis, Ph.D. / February 24, 2017 November 10, 2020

C. elegans’ feeding behavior strongly influences the worm’s aging and longevity. We tested adult worms to quantify how aging affects their feeding behavior. In older adults, pharyngeal pumping was weaker and less regular.