Joe Fetcho
Professor, Neurobiology and Behavior
with Joe Fetcho
Joe Fetcho attended graduate school at the University of Michigan. While completing his post-doctorate at SUNY Buffalo, Fetcho studied the physiology of fish, particularly their escape mechanisms. Later, while at Stony Brook University on Long Island, he began working with zebra fish. Zebra fish are unique because their larvae are transparent and their nervous system can be observed through their skin. Fortuitously, as Fetcho began his work with zebra fish, a new technique was being developed that allowed neurons to be labeled. This allowed Fetcho to use zebra fish as a model organism for developing a basic set of principles on the organization and function of neurons and for studying nerve regeneration. In September 2009, Fetcho received the NIH Director's Pioneer Award, which supports scientists of exceptional creativity who propose pioneering approaches to major challenges in biomedical and behavioral research.
References
- Spinal cord nerves in zebra fish mapped Cornell Chronicle, February 28, 2007
Zebra fish embryonic development provides advantages over other vertebrate model organisms. Although the overall generation time of zebra fish is comparable to that of mice, zebra fish embryos develop rapidly, progressing from eggs to larvae in less than three days. The embryos are large, robust, and transparent and develop externally to the mother, characteristics that facilitate experimental manipulation and observation. Their nearly constant size during early development facilitates simple staining techniques, and drugs may be administered by adding them directly to the tank.
Zebra fish have the ability to regenerate fins, skin, the heart, and the brain (in larval stages). Zebra fish have also been found to regenerate photoreceptors and retinal neurons following injury. The mechanisms of this regeneration are unknown but are currently being studied. Researchers frequently cut the dorsal and ventral tail fins and analyze their regrowth to test for mutations. This research is leading the scientific community in the understanding of healing and repair mechanisms in vertebrates.
In February 2008, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston reported in the journal Stem Cell the development of a new strain of zebra fish, named Casper, with transparent bodies. This allows for detailed visualization of individual blood stem cells and metastasizing (spreading) cancer cells within a living adult organism. Because the function of many genes is shared between fish and humans, this tool is expected to yield insight into human diseases such as leukemia and other cancers.