Modelling human eye development and disease in zebrafish

Identification of genes causing eye defects represents an opportunity to gain new knowledge about the complex mechanisms, which orchestrate development of the eye and regulate our vision. In the current project, we aim to identify and investigate the function of genes involved in human eye development. To this end we are performing genetic analyses of patients with inherited eye disorders and we are using zebrafish to study the function of disease genes during development of the eye. Zebrafish is a recognized model to study eye development. The zebrafish eye shares many developmental features with humans and zebrafish has several additional advantages as animal model, including a very fast eye development.