Zebrafish as a model for immunological research

The group of Michael Schorpp at the MPI in Freiburg is interested in identifying genes that are important for thymopoiesis in the zebrafish. They study mutant fish lines that were generated by chemical mutagenesis and display aberrant thymus development. Affected genes are isolated by positional cloning and their biological function elucidated in fish and mice using a variety of methods. These studies are of medical relevance as they might lead to more refined diagnosis and novel therapeutic modalities for inborn or acquired immune deficiency syndromes.