"Think outside the cage." That's all it takes to understand why some researchers are moving away from mouse models and diving into transgenic fish research, according to biologist Richard N. Winn of the University of Georgia. Investigators bucking the mammalian tide come from all sectors of biological research, and, in addition to Winn, include National Academy of Sciences (NAS) member Richard B. Setlow, senior biophysicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory; Elwood A. Linney, professor of microbiology at Duke University; and Michael J. Carvan III, assistant scientist, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, among others.
These researchers have been lured, they say, by the research power inherent in fish. These prolific vertebrates are being shown to have a remarkably similar biology to mice, and, as models, fish provide high-quality data. "The objective, always, is to get good statistics and get them rapidly," notes Setlow, "and fish allow you to do that."
Fish models offer ...
