Research

Zebrafish in Our Research

Zebrafish provide a unique and powerful vertebrate model for studying cardiac electrophysiology and genetic heart disease. Unlike invertebrate systems, zebrafish share highly conserved genetic pathways with humans, including those that govern cardiovascular development. Their externally fertilized, transparent embryos enable direct observation of the beating heart and facile genetic manipulation. Importantly, the zebrafish cardiac action potential closely resembles that of humans—far more than in mouse—due to strong conservation of cardiac ion channel genes, including the SCN5A orthologs scn12aa and scn12ab. Zebrafish heart rates (120–150 bpm in embryos; ~120–130 bpm in adults) also approximate human physiology better than rodent models. Heart function develops rapidly, with beating beginning by ~18 hours post-fertilization and a fully functional heart by 48 hours, enabling early phenotyping at stages before pain perception. Coupled with their high fecundity, low cost, and suitability for high-throughput in vivo screens, zebrafish serve as an ideal system for modeling arrhythmias and accelerating drug discovery.

High-throughput Phenotypic Screening

Our lab has developed an integrated high-throughput phenotypic screening platform that enables rapid in vivo discovery of genetic modifiers and therapeutic candidates for cardiac arrhythmias. By combining CRISPR- based genome perturbations, automated imaging of zebrafish larvae, and AI-driven analysis of cardiac morphology, contractility, and electrophysiology, we can screen hundreds to thousands of genetic or compound perturbations in a fraction of the time required by traditional methods. This scalable system allows us to efficiently pinpoint disease-modifying pathways, identify small-molecule and gene-regulatory rescue strategies, and accelerate the translation of promising candidates toward preclinical validation.