• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Chemistry

Elevating African cichlid fish as a scientific model of social disorders

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
June 3, 2021
in Chemistry
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
ADVERTISEMENT
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

University of Houston researcher wins prestigious Beckman Young Investigator Award

IMAGE

Credit: University of Houston

Beau Alward, University of Houston assistant professor of psychology, who holds a joint appointment in biology and biochemistry and is director of the Social Neuroscience Lab, has received the Beckman Young Investigator Award by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. This marks the first time in history the foundation has awarded the same young professor twice. At Stanford, he was an Arnold Beckman post-doctoral fellow.

Then, and now, the award was based on Alward’s work with the African cichlid fish called Astatotilapia burtoni, or A. burtoni. Alward believes it’s time to elevate the species to become a premier model of social disorders, and he will use the $600,000 prize to do just that.

“With social disorders, like autism, people suffer from an inability to respond to social cues. The cool thing about fish is that they are excellent at responding to social cues,” said Alward. “Within minutes, they form a social hierarchy where they look at other fish around them and assess their color, body size and behavior and then they make a social decision on whether they should be high or low ranking.”

Through that process, Alward can further investigate their decision making to develop a cell-type specific molecular atlas of flexible social behavior.

“The goal is to get a foundation of data where we can say ‘In this species we find a number of these genes and cells are related to their ability to respond to social cues,’ and then we can examine if they are also implicated in autism and other social disorders,” said Alward.

As difficult as that might sound, elevating the status of the A. burtoni to a genetic model of social dysfunction worldwide is even more challenging. That task, as proposed by Alward, requires using Nobel-winning CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, often referred to as “genetic scissors” to form a greater understanding of the different cells and genes involved. By engineering genetic models through CRISPR editing, a more precise look at how genes behave will be revealed.

Alward also wants to create a collaborative network of A. burtoni research on social dysfunction, open to scientists who wish to explore the key genes in social behavior.

“To fully understand the phenomenon of social disorders, you need to examine a breadth of different species, because what works in one may not work in the other,” said Alward.

###

The Beckman Young Investigator (BYI) Program provides research support to the most promising young faculty members in the early stages of their academic careers in the chemical and life sciences, particularly to foster the invention of methods, instruments and materials that will open up new avenues of research in science.

Media Contact
Laurie Fickman
[email protected]

Original Source

https://uh.edu/news-events/stories/2021/june-2021/06032021-african-cichlid-fish-model-social-disorders-alward.php

Tags: AlzheimerCell BiologyMedicine/Healthneurobiology
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Architecture of VBayesMM

Unraveling Gut Bacteria Mysteries Through AI

July 4, 2025
Visulaization of ATLAS collision

Can the Large Hadron Collider Prove String Theory Right?

July 3, 2025

Breakthrough in Gene Therapy: Synthetic DNA Nanoparticles Pave the Way

July 3, 2025

Real-Time Electrochemical Microfluidic Monitoring of Additive Levels in Acidic Copper Plating Solutions for Metal Interconnections

July 3, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Zheng-Rong Lu

    Pancreatic Cancer Vaccines Eradicate Disease in Preclinical Studies

    75 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19
  • Enhancing Broiler Growth: Mannanase Boosts Performance with Reduced Soy and Energy

    72 shares
    Share 29 Tweet 18
  • AI Achieves Breakthrough in Drug Discovery by Tackling the True Complexity of Aging

    69 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 17
  • New Organic Photoredox Catalysis System Boosts Efficiency, Drawing Inspiration from Photosynthesis

    54 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Microbiome Cell-Free RNA Differentiates Colorectal Cancer

Evolving Deaminase Hotspots for Precise Cytosine Editing

HIV-1 Nuclear Entry Hinges on Capsid and Pore

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.