Disease Modeling - InVivo Biosystems

Review of Zebrafish Models to Boost Research in Rare Genetic Diseases

Disease Modeling / By Alexandra Narin / February 22, 2022 February 23, 2022

Summary A recent publication by Crouzier et al. emphasized the utility of zebrafish as a model for investigating rare diseases — enabling better understanding of their underlying mechanisms, and the development of therapeutics to treat these diseases. In this article we will discuss Crouzier et al.’s publication, and InVivo Biosystems’ ongoing work to help identify …

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Nutraceuticals & New approaches to DMD treatment

CRISPR, Disease Modeling, Nutraceuticals / By Alexandra Narin / February 18, 2022 September 22, 2022

This article will discuss recent findings, and how similar studies present an exciting and promising future for currently incurable diseases.

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Lost and Found: Zebrafish as a Drug Discovery Tool

Disease Modeling, Drug Discovery / By Alexandra Narin / February 8, 2022 February 8, 2022

Summary Zebrafish models largely began as a way to research developmental biology, however, their potential to be a preclinical model of human disease quickly became apparent. While the pharmaceutical industry initially invested in zebrafish models, they have yet to widely adopt it – it’s time for that to change. George Stresinger began using zebrafish as …

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Neuroscience Models: Transgenic Mice, Zebrafish, C. elegans – and Jellyfish?

CRISPR, Disease Modeling, Drug Discovery / By Alexandra Narin / February 1, 2022 February 1, 2022

In this article we discuss Weissbourd’s recent publication as well as GCaMP more broadly, showing how advancing technology has enabled researchers to ask questions that span disciplines and model organism species.

How Probiotics are Being Used to Combat COVID-19

Disease Modeling / By Alexandra Narin / January 11, 2022 September 29, 2022

Beyond research into vaccines and traditional therapeutics, the medical community is exploring other ways of helping to prevent, and reduce, symptoms of COVID-19. One promising supplement is a common probiotic. In this article we will discuss the studies that have been conducted, their findings, and answer the question: who could benefit from taking probiotics?

What’s Tau Got to Do With it?

Disease Modeling / By Alexandra Narin / November 9, 2021 November 9, 2021

Tauopathies are a type of neurodegenerative disease which get their name from the accumulation of Tau protein that occurs in all of them; these diseases include Alzhiemer’s disease (AD), Pick’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, and post-encephalitic parkinsonism, and more. Although there has been a concerted effort to better understand and treat Tau protein aggregation, all tau-targeting therapeutics developed so far have failed. This lack of discovery in the field suggests a better approach is needed to understand Tau protein. In a recent paper, Giong, Subramanian, Yu & Lee (2021) make the case for non-rodent models as a way forwards.

Modeling Gut Microbiome Effects in Alternative Animal Models – Finding the Happy Biota for a Long and Healthy Life

Aging & Healthspan, Disease Modeling / By Alexandra Narin, Hannah Huston and Chris Hopkins / October 28, 2021 September 29, 2022

In our most recent white paper we aim to answer the questions – What is the microbiome? How does it help or hinder health? And, what does recent research indicate?

One Fish in a Large Pond: History of the Zebrafish and Other Fish Models for Research Applications

Disease Modeling / By Ashwin Suresh and Alexandra Narin / October 22, 2021 October 29, 2021

This article reviews the history of the zebrafish, and discusses the scenarios when other fish species are advantageous.

A Gene Replacement Humanization Platform for Rapid Functional Testing of Clinical Variants in Epilepsy-associated STXBP1

Disease Modeling / By Alexandra Narin / September 30, 2021 September 30, 2021

Mutations in the STXBP1 gene are implicated in childhood epilepsies and several neurodevelopmental disorders, however, nearly half of the STXBP1 variants recorded in the ClinVar database are Variants of Unknown Significance (VUS). In a recent publication, members of the InVivo Biosystems team discussed their work creating humanized C. elegans that expressed STXBP1 in order to classify variants as benign or pathogenic.

Rising Healthcare Costs? Non-Mammalian Models to the Rescue

Disease Modeling, Drug Discovery / By Alexandra Narin / August 11, 2021 August 17, 2021

Rising healthcare costs mean it’s time for pharmaceutical companies to use non-mammalian models in their drug development process — by saving time and money pharmaceutical companies can make a return on their products without sky-high prices for consumers.