Young African Turquoise Killifish (IMAGE)
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The MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, has received a $75,000 grant to add the African turquoise killifish to its growing roster of animal models, thus strengthening its tradition of using comparative research to study the mechanisms involved in aging and regeneration. The study of therapies and interventions to expand healthy human lifespan has been limited by a lack of animal models: traditional vertebrate models such as the mouse live too long to get rapid results, while the most popular model, a roundworm called C.elegans that lives for only three weeks, is rungs away from humans on the evolutionary ladder. In recent years, however, scientists have developed the African turquoise killifish as a model to bridge this gap. Its short lifespan of only four to six months offers rapid insight into the effectiveness of anti-aging interventions, while its biological traits, including vertebrate-specific genes and organs and a complex immune system, are directly relevant to the study of human aging
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MDI Biological Laboratory
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