Studies in zebrafish which could give insight into the neurobiology underlying mental health disorders and addiction in humans are going on show at the Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition from July 4th – 9th, 8am-6pm.
Understanding gained from these studies may lead to the development of novel therapies to improve human mental health.
The team from Queen Mary University of London will be showcasing their work investigating genetic variations involved in the onset of human psychiatric disease. Such diseases include schizophrenia, ADHD, autism, and addiction.
Visitors will be able to interact with three different displays: they can test their impulsive behaviour using a large-scale version of an automated assay used to test rodents or fish; use jigsaw bricks to compare the fish and human brain – how similar are we really? - and visualise the effects of gene editing on DNA sequences and protein function.
Dr Adele Leggieri, Postdoctoral Research Assistant at Queen Mary University of London, explains: “Zebrafish are helpful in finding genetic variations associated with psychiatric disorders in humans because we share 70% of our genetic makeup with zebrafish and 80% of the genes known to be associated with human diseases have a zebrafish counterpart. Exhibiting at the Summer Science Exhibition is a great opportunity to promote our research which will hopefully one day pave the way for new treatments that help people live with what can be quite crippling conditions.”
The high number of shared genes between humans and zebrafish means that a genetic discovery in zebrafish is likely to have a counterpart in humans. So, if the researchers know that there is a link between one specific gene and increased distress for instance, it could be a therapeutic target in future drug development in humans.
Dr Adele Leggieri adds: “Our ultimate ambition is uncovering the genetic network and resulting neurobiology behind mental health disorders. We have lots of new research on the go and we’re always learning new things, so we’re hopeful we can continue to understand more about the human mind each day.”
Researchers at Queen Mary have already made several discoveries from research in Zebrafish. In 2020, they identified 3 variants in the human Slit3 gene that were significantly linked to smoking activity.
The Royal Society’s annual Summer Science Exhibition offers a free interactive experience for anyone curious about the latest advances in science and technology. This year’s Exhibition is located at The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London.
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