Modeling is not just a job for humans — it is also a job for many different organisms. And like human modeling, biological modeling turns out to be surprisingly glamorous and diverse. But what comes to mind when you picture a “model organism”? A mouse? A pesky fruit fly? ...
Injections in mice are a day-to-day task for many labs. Deciding which type of injection to use depends on a number of factors. You have to weigh the pros and cons of various methods and choose what is best for you — and the mice. While not an exhaustive list, these can include ...
We all know that yeast is a powerful eukaryotic model organism – its genome is easy to manipulate, it’s affordable, and it grows fast to boot. The yeast strains S. cerevisiae and S. pombe have dominated the research scene. But what about the other yeasts – in the biomedical ...
By Justin Ng and Alyssa Cecchetelli Science is a constantly evolving and demanding field, requiring a variety of biological and molecular tools. One such tool is the model organism, an essential aspect of biological research that has defined our understanding of biological ...
This post was contributed by Katherine Rogers, a postdoctoral researcher at the Friedrich Miescher Lab of the Max Planck Society. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) have been used since the 1930’s in a range of biological studies, including investigations into environmental pollutants and ...
In Part 1 of our mouse modeling blog series, we covered techniques that can be used to introduce genetic modifications into mouse embryos. But once you generate a growing colony of genetically engineered mice, what can you do? In this post, we’ll cover why and how to cross mice ...
Optogenetics, the use of light sensitive proteins (opsins) to manipulate cell activity, enables researchers to silence or incite neuronal firing and study subsequent effects on behavior. The system is an especially powerful tool for in vivo behavioral studies because it is ...
Mice are a common model organism used to understand mammalian traits and genetically engineered mouse models provide researchers with useful and adaptable tools to perform basic and preclinical research. For scientists new to using mouse models, the possibilities may seem ...
