Mary Ann Liebert Launches Zebrafish Journal

Posted on September 19, 2003

Zebrafish, a new peer-reviewed journal, will be published in print and online by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Because of its prolific reproduction and the external development of the transparent embryo, the zebrafish is a prime model for genetic and developmental studies; they are an excellent supplement, and in some cases, alternative to lab mice, for research. The editor-in-chief of the Zebrafish journal will be Paul Collodi, Ph.D., professor of animal sciences at Purdue University.

"The zebrafish has become a popular model for studies of embryo development, toxicology, drug screening, and human disease," said Dr. Collodi. "As the sequence of the zebrafish genome is completed and new genetic tools come online, this organism will also become a key model system for research in the fields of functional genomics and biotechnology. This new journal will play an important role in stimulating interactions between investigators working in these disciplines."

Dr. Collodi has received a $1-million, three-year NIH grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He and his team are exploring ways to introduce specific alternations into zebrafish embryonic stem cells and keep them alive long enough to pass on the genetic traits.

While genetically more distant from humans, the vertebrate zebrafish nevertheless has comparable organs and tissues, such as heart, kidney, pancreas, bones, and cartilage. The zebrafish is an essential tool to the branch of science called proteomics, which refer to the study of an organism's proteins

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will break ground in October for a new facility to breed and house zebrafish for intramural research. When completed in 2004, the $10 million 5000-square foot facility will house more than half a million zebrafish in 25,000 tanks.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., is a privately held, media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including ASSAY and Drug Development Technologies, Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, and OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide.



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