Zebrafish: An Almost Human Stem Cell Alternative?

While the promising field of stem cell research was all the news last week, there are plenty of other areas of the gene pool that scientists are diving into. CBS's Lee Cowan reports on new research in Boston that is going just "swimmingly."

On the seventh floor of Boston's Children's hospital are some 100,000 of the most unlikely patients.

"These fish are tremendously anemic," says Dr. Leonard Zon. They are also some of the sickest: Ultimately, these fish will get cancer.

As promising as stem cell research may be, Zon is concentrating his research not on human cells but on cells that are almost human.

"Fish have an insulin gene: Humans have an insulin gene. Fish make hemoglobin: Humans make hemoglobin," he says.

It was a humbling revelation when scientists mapping the human genome found that humans and so-called "lower forms of life" were actually very close genetically. A blow, perhaps, to our ego--but a boom for science. It meant more research could be done on more subjects, in less space and less time.

In one lab, zebrafish are involved in ten different experiments--something that would take ten times the space and a lifetime of study if researchers were using monkeys or mice. That's because zebrafish reproduce so quickly, laying 200 eggs a week that mature in only 3 months.

"Any disease, any organ that you're interested in studying, could be studied in this invertebrate," Zon says.

To make it even easier, zebrafish embryos are transparent--giving researchers a window on life as it develops. For example, researchers are able to see that some fish can't make red blood cells. Zon has tracked down at least one of the genes responsible--which could help lead to a cure for sickle cell anemia.

"By understanding this genetic disease in the fish, we'll have a much better understanding of what causes the human disease," Zon says.

The same people that mapped the human genome are now mapping the zebrafish genome. Once that is done, researchers can see where the two overlap. The tale of this research has the makings of one whale of a fish story--whose "catch" could be net full of cures.
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