Zebrafish as Metastatic Cancer Model

Another Koch Institute Image Award winner from 2018 is presented in this video from MIT. Researcher David Benjamin discusses his work, which uses zebrafish as a model organism to study metastatic cancer. The tiny fish remains transparent as it rapidly develops, making it a great research model.

Benajamin is particularly interested in how a gene called YAP influences the growth of metastatic cancer. The winning image shows a genetically modified zebrafish that is engineered to have red blood vessels. The green color indicates where tumor nuclei are located, so when it overlaps with the red it appears yellow. Learn more from the video.