The Animal Sciences cluster fosters collaboration between researchers with expertise in molecular cell biology, immunology, physiology, behavioural biology, and evo-devo research. As detailed under the links on this page, Animal Sciences participates in all of the institute wide-research themes: Bioactive Molecules, Development & Disease, Evolution & Biodiversity, and Host-Microbe Interactions. In brief, Animal Sciences contributes in the following ways:

Bioactive Molecules

Study bioactive compounds to identify drug candidates and to elucidate biological mechanisms associated with immune-related diseases, including infections, inflammation, metabolic disorders and cancer.

Development & Disease

Elucidate how genetic changes in developmental mechanisms drive the evolution of new functions and phenotypes and how genetic and environmental factors determine disease processes.

Evolution & Biodiversity

Gain insight into genome evolution and the proximate and ultimate factors underlying animal behaviour and cognition, and the consequences of anthropogenic changes in the environment on physiology and behaviour.

Host-Microbe Interactions

Increase understanding of interactions between animal hosts and pathogenic microbes or beneficial bacterial species in the genome.

Connection with other research

• Animal Sciences
  • Smartmix: A new generation of efficient biomedical research
  • ZF-CANCER - Developing high-throughput bioassays for human cancers in zebrafish
  • Development of an in vitro vascular network using zebrafish embryonic cells
  • Using zebrafish to target the Achilles’ heel of cancer
  • Nitric oxide in defence against mycobacterial infection
  • Imaging of biomaterial-associated inflammation and infection using zebrafish
  • The comparative biology of language learning
  • FishForPharma: Training network on zebrafish infection models for pharmaceutical screens
  • The role of zebrafish (Danio rerio) larvae in developing new drug candidates for treating anxiety, from natural sources
  • PROPER: ‘Near-patient’ prostate cancer models for the assessment of disease prognosis and therapy
  • Screening of animal venoms for antimicrobial compounds
  • A PCAD-model for fish to study the impact of airgun sound exposure on free-ranging cod
  • Role of leukocytes in metastasis formation in a zebrafish
  • Perception of multidimensional speech sounds in humans and songbirds
  • Why not sing? Reconstructing the evolution of female and male bird song
  • The serosa: an evolutionary novelty in insect eggs
  • The quest for new medicines against tuberculosis
  • Zebrafish: a new engraft model to study Ewing sarcoma progression
  • Evolution and development of bitterling fish
  • ZF-HEALTH - Zebrafish Regulomics for Human Health
  • Innate immune defence against intracellular pathogens
  • Inflammafish: Cross-talk between inflammation and autophagy in tuberculosis
  • Role of Chemokine Gradient Sensing in Ewing Sarcoma Progression, Angiogenesis and Immune Targeting
  • The eel, a swimming paradox
  • Urban ecology and avian acoustics: Function and evolution of birdsong in a changing world
  • Glucocorticoids in zebrafish
  • Zebrafish personality, stress physiology and behaviour in the context of sound exposure
  • Glucocorticoid modulation of the immune response
  • Novel immunomodulatory drugs for tuberculosis treatment
  • Snake genomes and toxin evolution
  • Staphylomics: Identifying host factors involved in staphylococcal infection
  • Neurogenomics of vocal learning
  • Endocannabinoids in health and stress
  • Segments and rules: a comparative study on linguistic rule learning mechanisms
  • Chemokine signaling in Tuberculosis and Salmonella infection
  • High-throughput screening for developmental and reproductive toxicity
  • Single gold nanorods in live cells

• animal biology
• animal sciences
• disease
• molecular biology
• zebrafish