 |
His work, however, does not deal with romantic feelings. Rather Dr. Rottbauer is researching the genetic causes of cardiovascular diseases.
The 34-year old scientist thus hopes to develop new drugs for heart attack patients. After a heart attack, the heart muscle is partly destroyed. Knowledge about the consequences of "lik" could aid in finding ways to grow healthy new tissue. The affected gene participates in a central signal pathway in the cell that regulates organ development.
 |
| Zebrafish-Embryo. Below: the heart - seen through a microscope. |
Dr. Rottbauer is not a downright fish lover. While he was a student he once shared a room wirh a goldfish, but the aquarium has long since been orphaned. "I have always been fascinated in embryonic development. That's why I've 'downsized' to zebrafish."
Zebrafish offer cardiovascular researchers a number of advantages: at the beginning of their development the small fish embryos are transparent. The heart function can therefore be observed under a light-optical microscope in the living fish. Moreover, in the first ten days of their life, the little fish are not dependent on a healthy heart. They survive despite heart defects and their development can be observed.
For the discovery of the "lovesickness"-gene and the explanation of its function, Dr. Rottbauer was honored with the Oskar-Lapp-Price 2003. Now he's searching for other cardiovascular diseases within the transparent zebrafish, for finding similarities of human's suffering.
