Hey, look — the esteemed scientist who helped shape my education is getting acknowledged for his work. Not the work he struggled with in getting me to finally graduate, but his work on zebrafish. Chuck Kimmel is getting a lifetime achievement award from Oregon Academy of Science.
“Importantly, Chuck saw the virtue of zebrafish as a genetic model for studies of vertebrate development, due to the relative simplicity of its embryonic cell lineage compared to other vertebrates, its optical clarity during embryogenesis and its rapid generation time,” Bowerman wrote. “It is truly remarkable how Chuck’s insight has had such a global impact, with hundreds of laboratories throughout the world now using zebrafish as one of the two leading models for vertebrate development and behavior.”
In case you are wondering, the #1 model is the mouse. Zebrafish are #2, but at least you don’t need to disembowel Minnie Mouse to get access to embryos.
I knew Chuck would do good in his career. Way back in the day we also knew zebrafish would be a popular tool.
…not to be confused with the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine….
Where do spiders rank in the model popularity hierarchy? Are they as high as their ease of husbandry suggests?
Given that it’s the model population hierarchy for vertebrate development and behavior, they don’t. Which is also why e. coli isn’t hanging out in the top spot here.
Correct. Also, spiders are a new model organism — lots of past work on taxonomy & ecology, but their recent incorporation into studies of development is novel.