Objective
The zebrafish embryo model has rapidly gained ground in biomedical research based on functional genomics approaches. As a result it shows great potential to be incorporated into preclinical drug screening pipelines. ZF-TOOLS aims to develop a case study for an anti-tumor drug screening system, based on implantation of fluorescently labeled tumor cells into zebrafish embryos.
The optically transparent embryos provide a highly useful in vivo system to monitor growth and metastasis of implanted tumor cells. This system will allow for the powerful combination of visual monitoring with high-throughput analysis of expression of marker genes with a predictive value for tumor progression or for defence responses towards developing tumors.
However, the bottleneck for application of this approach is insufficient knowledge of relevant disease marker genes in zebrafish. Therefore, the first objective of ZF-TOOLS is marker discovery. To achieve this objective fluorescent zebrafish cell lines expressing selected oncogenes will be generated and a multidisciplinary functional genomics approach, integrating different genomics techniques and bioinformatics, will be undertaken to compare expression profiles before and after implantation into zebrafish embryos. The experimental design of our genomics strategy will enable distinction between tumor cell markers and markers for immune or general defence responses of the organism. After marker validation, high-throughput tools for large scale expression screens will be developed.
The second objective of ZF-TOOLS is to exploit the combination of high-throughput markers and implant system to study different oncogenic implants and effects of a test panel of drugs used in human cancer therapy. This case study should result in identification of important tumor growth and metastasis factors as well as defence factors. Fundamental knowledge, tools and technical expertise gained from ZF-TOOLS will be commercially exploited by three high-tech SMEs.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgenetics
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncology
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologyimplants
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineembryology
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Call for proposal
FP6-2005-LIFESCIHEALTH-7
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Funding Scheme
STREP - Specific Targeted Research ProjectCoordinator
9503 LEIDEN
Netherlands