Zeclinics Podcast

In this article we talk about the harmful consequences of environmental chemicals on the endocrine system, an effect known as endocrine disruption.

We discuss on:
- The reason why endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) matter
- The need for implementing new analytical tools for evaluating EDCs effects in animals
- What EDCs do to our endocrine system
- The use of biomarkers as an EDCs screening strategy
- Experimental advantages of zebrafish for endocrine disruption testing

In this episode we talk about the advantages of zebrafish visual system that make it an ideal model for eye disorders research, and a description of ZeClinics experimental pipeline for Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) modeling, based on light-induced degeneration of adult zebrafish.

In this episode we will explore the use zebrafish as a tool to study obesity and metabolic-related diseases such as Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD).

In this episode we talk about the translatability that zebrafish models have to humans, in order to answer this central question: "Are zebrafish suitable for human drug discovery?"

Zebrafish embryos are not considered protected organisms until 5 th dpf, and they are seeing wide use as a way to replace protected organisms.

The zebrafish larva is an excellent model for conducting HTS experiments. In the future the model is likely going to become even more powerful since optimization and automation now allow us to combine different HTS assays: we can combine compound screens, genetic manipulations, phenotypic screens, behavioral screens and transcriptomic analyses and obtain more endpoints from a single specimen. This approach should ultimately allow us to i) basically understand “disease” better and to ii) increase even further the predictability of the zebrafish model for human disease.

Zebrafish represents a key tool to boost drug discovery by enabling phenotypic screening approach in pharmacological-based disease models.

Zebrafish is an outstanding animal model for screening potentially toxic chemical compounds, and at ZeClinics we are experts on its use. 

Genetically modified zebrafish can be employed in different fields of basic and applied research. Its applications include (but are not limited to) the validation of new druggable targets, the identification of the genetic cause of rare diseases, the dissection of molecular pathways involved in developmental or degenerative processes and the understanding of the regulation of key regenerative mechanisms.

ZeClinics laboraty R&D efforts are mainly divided in the development of three research platforms including several research areas. These platforms are ZeGenesis, ZeEfficacy, and ZeTox. Here, we include a quick overview of what they do. 

For us it is obvious how great zebrafish is for drug and target discovery. Nevertheless, it might not be so much for those not familiarized with the model. Thus, as it happens with all good stories, we should start at the beginning.