Question: what do you love most about mutant zebra fish

Elliot Jokl answered on 16 Jun 2016:

Tough question, though I like all the zebrafish in my lab and not just the mutant ones! I enjoy feeding them – they get very excited when I walk into the aquarium and will swim to the front of the tank. I pretend they are happy to see me and try not to think about how they are only happy about the food…anyway…

There are some cool genetically modified fish in the lab – we have a few lines of fish which express a protein called GFP – green fluorescent protein – in specific places like their muscles and the nerves that send impulses to the muscle (motor neurons). The GFP protein glows green when you shine a certain light on it. Those are really fun to look at down a microscope and you can see these things glowing in green. We can learn a lot by looking at these kinds of fish.