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The cardiovascular system is the first organ system to form in our body. The formation of a network of blood vessels is not only essential for the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the organs of our body, but also plays an important role in various diseases such as cancer and stroke. Despite the importance of the cardiovascular system, the signals that regulate its formation are not yet fully understood.

Our group aims to elucidate the signaling pathways that influence endothelial cell migration and lead to the formation of a three-dimensional network of blood vessels (Time-lapse recording with a confocal microscope of forming blood vessel of a transgenic zebrafish embryo. Endothelial cells are genetically labeled with a GFP (green)). Since the underlying cell biological and developmental processes are conserved across all vertebrates, we use the zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a model organism (video of the cardiovascular system of Danio rerio, Red blood cells are genetically labeled with a DsRed (red) and blood vessels with a GFP (green)).

Due to rapid early development, all major blood vessels are formed as early as 24 hours after fertilization (hpf) and cardiac contractility is initiated.(Time-lapse recording with a spinning disc microscope of a beating heart of a transgenic zebrafish embryo. Red blood cells are marked with a DsRed (red) and blood vessels with a GFP (green)).

While a defective cardiovascular system is lethal in mammals, zebrafish larvae can survive up to 5 days without blood flow, making them a unique model to study cardiovascular development.

As early as 48 hours after fertilization, embryos develop the classic vertebrate blueprint, and pharmacological inhibition of pigmentation keeps embryos transparent, allowing observation of organ development even deep in tissue.

The CRISPR/Cas9 system makes it easy to genetically manipulate the zebrafish genome. The optical transparency of the embryos in combination with reporter lines also allows us to study single cells during organ formation in vivo in the whole organism. (Time-lapse recording with a spinning disc microscope of a genetic calcium reporter of a transgenic zebrafish embryo). These features make the zebrafish an ideal model for genetic and pharmacological screening.