Research programme
Animal Sciences & Health
We perform multidisciplinary research at molecular, cellular, and organismal levels of animal biology to increase fundamental understanding of health and disease.
- Contact
- Annemarie Meijer

The Animal Sciences & Health research programme fosters collaboration between researchers with expertise in molecular cell biology, immunology, physiology, behavioural biology, and evo-devo research. Research in this cluster is organised in three primary research themes. In the first theme, Mechanisms of Disease, we aim to increase understanding of the biological mechanisms that are involved in maintenance of health and associated with diseases in which developmental processes, metabolism, and the immune system play a major role. In the second theme, Behaviour and Cognition, we gain insight into the proximate and ultimate factors underlying animal behaviour and cognition, and the consequences of anthropogenic changes in environment on physiology and behaviour. The final theme, Development and Evolution, aims to elucidate how genetic changes in developmental mechanisms drive the evolution of new functions and phenotypes.
The zebrafish is the model organism that forms the connection between all disciplines in the research cluster and has strong translational value for research into human development and disease. For a number of specific research questions we also employ other animal models, including invertebrate species and birds, especially the zebra finch.
Connection with other research
- Animal Sciences & Health
- Exploring Morphospaces in Adaptive Radiations to unravel Ecological Speciation (EMARES)
- The eel, a swimming paradox
- PROPER: ‘Near-patient’ prostate cancer models for the assessment of disease prognosis and therapy
- Endocannabinoids in health and stress
- Screening of animal venoms for antimicrobial compounds
- Snake genomes and toxin evolution
- Smartmix: A new generation of efficient biomedical research
- ZF-CANCER - Developing high-throughput bioassays for human cancers in zebrafish
- Zebrafish: a new engraft model to study Ewing sarcoma progression
- Role of Chemokine Gradient Sensing in Ewing Sarcoma Progression, Angiogenesis and Immune Targeting
- Segments and rules: a comparative study on linguistic rule learning mechanisms
- Single gold nanorods in live cells
- Glucocorticoid modulation of the immune response
- Glucocorticoids in zebrafish
- Role of leukocytes in metastasis formation in a zebrafish
- Neurogenomics of vocal learning
- Perception of multidimensional speech sounds in humans and songbirds
- The serosa: an evolutionary novelty in insect eggs
- Using zebrafish to target the Achilles’ heel of cancer
- Why not sing? Reconstructing the evolution of female and male bird song
- ZF-HEALTH - Zebrafish Regulomics for Human Health
- High-throughput screening for developmental and reproductive toxicity
- Imaging of biomaterial-associated inflammation and infection using zebrafish
- The quest for new medicines against tuberculosis
- Chemokine signaling in Tuberculosis and Salmonella infection
- Innate immune defence against intracellular pathogens
- Nitric oxide in defence against mycobacterial infection
- Evolution and development of bitterling fish
- Development of an in vitro vascular network using zebrafish embryonic cells
- The role of zebrafish (Danio rerio) larvae in developing new drug candidates for treating anxiety, from natural sources
- Novel immunomodulatory drugs for tuberculosis treatment
- FishForPharma: Training network on zebrafish infection models for pharmaceutical screens
- Staphylomics: Identifying host factors involved in staphylococcal infection
- Inflammafish: Cross-talk between inflammation and autophagy in tuberculosis
- A PCAD-model for fish to study the impact of airgun sound exposure on free-ranging cod
- The comparative biology of language learning
- Zebrafish personality, stress physiology and behaviour in the context of sound exposure
- Urban ecology and avian acoustics: Function and evolution of birdsong in a changing world