Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are small, rapidly reproducing tropical aquarium fish with genetic similarities to humans. They are increasingly used as model organisms in biomedical research.
“Zebrafish serve as model organisms to study diseases, particularly tuberculosis and cancer, and to explore drug dose conversion from zebrafish to humans, a key approach in translational research,” said Prof. Herman Spaink of Leiden University at the Fish Disease Models and Bioinformatics Workshop held at UGM’s Faculty of Biology on Monday (13 July).
Prof. Spaink emphasized that as zebrafish use in biomedical research expands, bioinformatics skills are essential for disease modeling and transcriptomic data analysis.
A molecular cell biology and immunology specialist, Prof. Spaink also discussed live imaging technology for observing disease dynamics in real time and the role of Toll-like Receptor 2 (TLR2) in the immune response to infection.
“This technology illuminates how zebrafish function as a crucial platform for understanding disease mechanisms and advancing new therapies,” he said.
Dr. Luthfi Nurhidayat of UGM’s Faculty of Biology said the training gave researchers and laboratory staff hands-on experience in integrating experimental and computational approaches in modern biology.
According to Dr. Luthfi, the workshop reinforced the faculty’s commitment to strengthening life sciences capacity, fostering international academic partnerships, and transferring knowledge and technology to students, researchers and the community.
“We expect this workshop to build participants’ competencies and generate innovative research collaborations in infectious disease, biomedicine and bioinformatics,” he said.
Participants learned to integrate animal models with bioinformatics tools. The hands-on session covered transcriptomic data analysis using RStudio, including the RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) pipeline from data processing through differential gene expression analysis to result interpretation.
Author: Agito Sitepu
Editor: Gusti Grehenson
Post Editor: Zabrina Kumara
Photo: Wikipedia