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24 December 2018 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Anja Aucamp
Research possibilities of zebrafish exposed
Leading global genetics laboratories are replacing research on human and animal populations with zebrafish, says Prof Paul Grobler, Head of the UFS Department of Genetics.
The UFS Department of Genetics is on par with current research trends in terms of their zebrafish project. About a year has passed since they seriously started focusing on the potential of this tiny four-centimetre-long fish, and the possibilities are hugely exciting.

Looks are deceiving

Leading global genetics laboratories are replacing research on human and animal populations with zebrafish due to several fascinating reasons, of which the most profound is probably that the zebrafish share large portions of its genome with mammals. For genetics researchers this may make a lot of sense, but most people battle to see any resemblance between a six-foot-tall rugby player or 600 kg buffalo and a small, nearly transparent fish. It is in the detail, the researchers say.

Fast, effective, and visible

“The complete genome sequence of the zebrafish is known, and as much as 84% of genes known to be associated with human disease have zebrafish counterparts,” explains Head of Department, Prof Paul Grobler. Another advantage is the fast breeding rate and short generation time, and the fact that some research is ethically more justifiable when done on fish larvae rather than on adult mammals. The fact that zebrafish embryos are virtually transparent, also allow researchers to examine the development of internal structures without effort. Every blood vessel in a living zebrafish embryo is visible under a low-power microscope.

Multidisciplinary

Zebrafish provide research potential for many different study fields besides that of Prof Grobler and his team, Sue Rica Schneider and Dr Willem Coetzer. In the near future, they aim to have undergraduate students use zebrafish as a research model to develop a real sense of research and laboratory work. The Department of Chemistry are also initiating research on zebrafish housed in the Department of Genetics.

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News Archive

Extraordinary professor appointed
2005-11-10

UFS appoints its first extraordinary professor for health systems research and development  

 

 

Prof Dingie van Rensburg (Director: Centre for Health Systems Research and Development at the UFS) and Prof  Helen Schneider (senior researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand's Centre for Health Policy and extraordinary professor at the UFS Centre for Health Systems Research and Development). Photo: L Loader

 

The Centre for Health Systems Research and Development (CHSR&D) at the University of the Free State (UFS) has appointed its first extraordinary professor. 

Prof Helen Schneider, former director of the Centre for Health Policy at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) and currently senior researcher in that Centre and consultant in the WITS School of Public Health, was appointed by CHSR&D for a period of two years.

“Prof Schneider is widely known for her thorough experience, expertise and exposure in the field of public health, health policy and management and health policy and systems research.  We are honoured to have her join us as an extraordinary professor,”  said Prof Dingie van Rensburg, Director of CHSR&D.

Prof Schneider will be involved in various components of the CHSR&D’s long-term project on public sector anti-retroviral treatment (ART) and will also assist in the documenting, monitoring, evaluating and facilitation of the implementation of the national treatment plan in the Free State.  She is also assisting the Gauteng Department of Health in a similar way.

“The two provinces are actually so different.  They provide a different window on the realities of HIV/AIDS and the intellectual traditions involved in it,” said Prof Schneider.  “I hope to contribute meaningfully to finding new dimensions for research necessary in order to optimise the contribution and effect of the research on ART,” said Prof Schneider.

Another need for Prof Schneider’s appointment is to strengthen the senior research capacity of the CHSR&D, guide them with the ART project and assist in the implementation of research results into policy, management and practice.

Media release
Issued by:Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:  (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
9 November 2005

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