Bucknell Students Develop Screen for Zebrafish to Use in Lou Gehrig's Disease Research

Students at Bucknell University are working on ways to research Lou Gerhrig's Disease developed a prototyope screen to expose zebrafish, commonly used in research on the condition to chemicals used to treat the disease. The fish's benefits for sudying the disease is that the animal can be easily bred to show the defects of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) which is a fatal condition that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal chord. While ALS affected the famed Yankee who gave his name to the condition, prominent physicist and author of A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking also suffers from the condition. Approximately 20,000 Americans are said to have the condition with an additional 5,000 being diagnosed each year.

According to the ALS association, Lou Gehrig's Disease is a, "a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord." The gradual breakdown of these neuron's leads to the eventual death of the patient. Zebrafish are used because they are easily bred with symptoms that mimic the condition.

The problem with the research at the current time is that the devices necessary to do the research were not yet commercially available. However, after spotting the work of a research scientist working for Geisinger attracted the attention of a trio of students attending Bucknell University. Dr. Glenn S. Gerhard, a staff scientist at Geisinger's Weis Research center believes that if not a cure is available for the disease, at least better treatments may be found if only the right combination of drugs currently available can be found.

The people from Bucknell univeristy, Professor Joe Tranquilo and the students Ericca Anereozzi, Meredith Kalman and Emily Thiel have developed working screen plate prototype which will allow researchers to expose the Zebrafish to ALS and various chemical mixtures to aid their research.

The new device will streamline the process of research into Lou Gehrig's disease even if it may not be good news for the unfortunate Zebrafish who end up being the targets of the research. A process that might have taken weeks or months before can now be reduced to days and as an added benefit may require less staff than the techniques used before.

Geisinger Ventures, which is the corporate portion of the Weist Research facility brought the students and Dr. Gerhard together. Currently, Ventures is looking for a partner willing to license and market the prototype screen of the Bucknell Biomedical Engineering students. The students worked throughout the spring semester as part of the university's engineering program. The students researched and developed the project as a practical part of obtaining their degrees. According to a Geisinger spokesperson, the work with zebrafish has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of Lou Gehrig's disease.

Sources:

"Students work to Streamline ALS Research." The Daily Item. Tuesday, August 14, 2007. Sunbury, Pennsylvania.

http://www.alsa.org/als/what.cfm