User:Marja Karttunen/sandbox

As demonstrated through ongoing research programmes, the zebrafish model enables researchers not only to identify genes that might underlie human disease, but also to develop novel therapeutic agents in drug discovery programmes.[77] Zebrafish embryos have proven to be a rapid, cost-efficient, and reliable teratology assay model.[78] Drug screens in zebrafish can be used to identify novel classes of compounds with biological effects, or to repurpose existing drugs for novel uses; an example of the latter would be a screen which found that a commonly used statin (rosuvastatin) can suppress the growth of prostate cancer To date, 65 small-molecule screens have been carried out and at least one has led to clinical trials. However, many technical challenges remain to be resolved, including differing rates of drug absorption and high levels of natural variation between individual animals.