Z-Tag Zebrafish for Compound-Induced and Gene-Related Toxicity Screening
Genetically tractable zebrafish have been used for years to test genes and compounds for acute toxicity, developmental
toxicity and specific organ/tissue toxicity. Zygogen is developing automated toxicity assays utilizing Z-Tag technology.
Compounds are robotically delivered into multi-well plates containing zebrafish embryos and quantitative in vivo data is
obtained using a high content imaging system. Antisense molecules are injected into zebrafish to rapidly assess in vivo generelated
toxicity. Understanding gene function and compound toxicity in the context of a whole animal early in drug discovery
will assist in evaluation of genetic targets and compounds that are identified in primary screens. Thus, the risk associated with
advancing a gene or compound along the drug discovery process is greatly reduced.