Raising the fish that spawn our insights

06/14/23 • 35 min

The use of model organisms in science dates to ancient Greece and represents an important way humans have progressed our collective understanding of biology and disease. We’ve probably all heard of using mice, rats, or even Drosophila melanogaster (i.e., fruit flies) in the lab, but zebrafish have surged in their use as a model organism. Zebrafish are small, more cost effective to maintain, have a fast generational lifecycle, and have clear embryos that enable direct observation of their development. As is the case with any model system used across the globe, standards matter and help make results transferrable to other studies. This is where our guests come into the picture.

For this unique episode we’re joined by both Corbin Schuster and Zoltan Varga of Zebrafish International Resource Center (ZIRC) at the University of Oregon. In their roles, they help raise and maintain over 12,000 genetically unique zebrafish lines for use in studies across the globe. We learn about the health monitoring they conduct on a regular basis to maintain their colony and support their own and partner studies using their zebrafish. The conversation touches on:

Environmental DNA (eDNA) methods they employ
Assay development and method selection based on their need for sensitivity and specificity
The use of qPCR and dPCR in their work
Studies and monitoring of parasites and pathogens that affect their colony
How zebrafish have helped shift research from forward genetic studies to reverse genetic studies

As always, you’ll also get to know our guests on a more personal level. We learn about how they each got into this line of work, what they love about it, and how they both value human relationships and helping their communities. Through the audio alone you’ll get a sense of the positive, kind, and collaborative attitudes that have helped them both be successful in their careers.

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guests, the hosts, and the Applied Biosystems QuantStudio Absolute Q Digital PCR System.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) methods they employ
Assay development and method selection based on their need for sensitivity and specificity
The use of qPCR and dPCR in their work
Studies and monitoring of parasites and pathogens that affect their colony
How zebrafish have helped shift research from forward genetic studies to reverse genetic studies

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guests, the hosts, and the Applied Biosystems QuantStudio Absolute Q Digital PCR System.

Previous Episode

Avoiding the itch with digital PCR

Parasites may bet a bad rap overall, but they play a vital role in healthy ecosystems. In this episode, we focus on the role parasites play in freshwater ecosystems. Specifically, we’re talking about the role of avian schistosomes, a very interesting parasite that infects waterfowl, but that also uses snails as a host in its larval stage. Larvae also infect humans to cause what’s know as swimmer’s itch.

To guide this conversation we have Dr. Patrick Hanington, associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. As a self-described parasitologist and immunologist he and his team focus on developing multiplexed PCR-based tests to detect freshwater parasites, including avian schistosomes. Their work benefits locals in his area by monitoring pubic and recreational waters for swimmer’s itch outbreaks, but their work also serves as a model for informing human schistosome research, where Schistosomiasis is the second most prevalent disease worldwide, behind malaria.

In our conversation with Patrick we learn about how they design their assays, why they’re increasingly using dPCR instead of qPCR. Beyond the technical work, we get into how Patrick’s career path developed, how what he loves most about his job has changed and evolved over time, his lessons learned in the lab, and how his research and hobbies have blended over time. And because it’s Absolute Gene-ius, you know we keep it fun with some unexpected movie references and a bit of discussion about how science is represented in television and film.

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guest, the hosts, and the Applied Biosystems QuantStudio Absolute Q Digital PCR System.

Next Episode

Shrimp-ly amazing science

Microbial consortia are groups of diverse microorganisms that have the ability to act together in a community. Such consortia are common in nature and are known to play important roles in many ecosystems but are not always well understood. Soil management and nutrient mobilization are one area where complex communities of microbes are known to be important, whether it be a naturally occurring consortium, or a man-made consortium.

In this episode of Absolute Gene-ius Jordan and Cassie talk with Dr. Ray Ketchum form Agrinos about the microbial consortia he and his team cultivate and produce to improve plan health and increase crop yields. We learn about the challenges of fermenting mixtures of more than 20 diverse microorganisms to reproducibly make products that improve plant health and mobilize nutrients in a completely organic way. As you might expect, digital PCR plays in important role in Ray’s R&D and quality control process. Here, they use dPCR to titer each of the species within their consortia for quality and regulatory purposes, a task that cannot be done by cell culture methods given the range of bacteria involved.

Cassie’s career corner gets Ray sharing his full career development story from undergraduate, through grad school and postdoc positions, and into his professional career. Ray is generous in sharing his early misconceptions about miscalculations while providing advice to help other avoid similar missteps.

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guest, the hosts, and the Applied Biosystems QuantStudio Absolute Q Digital PCR System.