Animals

Animals

videos My career in genomics: conservation genetics In this film Edel Sheerin describes her role as an advanced research assistant working in the field of conservation genetics. This is one of a series of films providing a unique insight into different careers in the field of genomics.
stories Inbreeding: from champion horses to life-saving mice Humans have been breeding animals for millenia to bring out desirable characteristics. With the thoroughbred race horse there's lots of money at stake but with research mice it's the possibility of life-saving new treatments.
facts What is selective breeding? Selective breeding involves selecting parents that have characteristics of interest in the hope that their offspring inherit those desirable characteristics.
stories Defeating the little dragon The Guinea worm is a water-transmitted parasite that develops over a year in its host before painfully emerging from the skin. It is hoped that it will soon become the first parasite to be eradicated but there are a few challenges to overcome first…
stories Of mice and men The mouse is closely related to humans with a striking similarity to us in terms of anatomy, physiology and genetics. This makes the mouse an extremely useful model organism.
stories The African clawed frog While many species of amphibians have been studied by scientists, the one that stands out in genetics is the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis.
stories The pilot project for the Human Genome Project: C. elegans John Sulston and Bob Waterston led the way for the Human Genome Project after they successfully sequenced the genome of the nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, the first animal to be sequenced.
stories Sequencing the worm The 1950s and early 1960s saw a dazzling explosion in molecular biology. The structure of DNA had been uncovered and the mysteries of biology seemed eminently solvable. What would be the next big thing?
stories Fruit flies in the laboratory The fruit fly, also known as Drosophila melanogaster, has the longest history in genetics and research out of all the model organisms.
stories Tiny fish, big splash: the story of the zebrafish The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has become a popular model organism only relatively recently. It is a tropical fish from the minnow family with a genetic structure surprisingly similar to ours.

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