A Zebrafish is a small tropical fish that has emerged as a powerful animal model in diverse fields of biomedical research. Hundreds of laboratories worldwide use this model organism to make key advances in genomics, cell biology, cancer and human disease, drug discovery, neuroscience, and behavior. To date, over 80% of human disease genes are modelled in zebrafish. Zebrafish research rapidly expands in a vivid collaborative and innovative community worldwide.
The vibrant zebrafish research community in Israel, which is an important part of the worldwide community, is growing rapidly. From only 3 groups 10 years ago, the community now includes 20 groups in all universities and research institutes across the country, including senior, mid-career and young investigators. Israeli zebrafish research spans a wide range of fields, making cutting edge contributions for their advancement.
On December 13, 2021
The 6th Israeli Zebrafish Meeting will be held at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, marking 12 years for this communal biannual meeting.
In celebration of the growth of the Israeli Zebrafish community and its scientific accomplishments, this Research Topic will cover the science presented in this meeting, which will include four thematic sessions, presentations by trainees in our community, Israeli senior postdocs visiting from overseas labs, poster sessions, and a keynote lecture.
In addition to covering the meeting, we will encourage manuscripts from our community. The scientific contributions by the Israeli community are highly significant. However, the geographical distance of our community from major communities in Europe, Asia and the US, makes it challenging at times to physically participate in communal activities such as workshops and conferences, mostly due to costs of travel, and particularly in light of COVID restrictions over the last two years. We hope that this Research Topic will help zebrafish researchers in Israel to communicate their science, showcase their advances, and make our community as a whole more visible and accessible globally.
We aim to showcase the scientific contributions of our community, and shed light on its future directions, including new paths of investigations by our newer members. We hope that this will assist the career development of our community members and increase their global visibility.
We call for all Israeli principal investigators to contribute a manuscript related to their research field. We would call for original research articles and welcome review articles discussing new advances, their biological significance, and future directions, aiming to increase the accessibility of zebrafish research in Israel to new researchers at all levels. We would also call for manuscripts describing recently developed methodologies, hoping that this will expand the experimental toolbox in zebrafish research worldwide.
