Zebrafish Embryo Toxicity Assays

Project ID: W912HZ-15-2-0023

Federal Agency: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Partner Institution: Oregon State University

Fiscal Year: 2015

Initial Funding: $82,750

Total Funding: $82,750

Project Type: Research

Project Disciplines: Biological

Principal Investigator: Tanguay, Robert

Agreement Technical Representative: Escalon, Barbara Lynn

Abstract: The goal of this project is to build predictive toxicity models of high nitrogen (high-N) compounds found in the environment using embryonic zebrafish assays. There is an increasing pressure to reduce the use of animals in toxicity testing.
To accomplish this, predictive toxicity models are needed. The embryonic zebrafish is an excellent model to help accomplish this task. The zebrafish develops rapidly, its genome is 80% similar to humans, and a high number of human disease states are recapitulated in the zebrafish. These qualities make it an ideal model for detection of chemical bioactivity and translation of the bioactivity to higher vertebrates. The proposed project will provide an important opportunity to 1) detect and characterize the effects of high-N compounds on zebrafish, 2) to build predictive toxicity models to apply to other species, including humans and 3) translate that activity into environmental hazard potential.