Timeframe: 2016 – 2019
Goal: Use zebrafish as a model system for fibrolamellar carcinoma to study the immune system
Principal Investigator: Sofia de Oliveira, Ph.D., EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow, Huttenlocher Immunology Lab
Few FLC animal models currently exist limiting our ability to study FLC in the context of a complete organism. While cell-based models are extremely useful, animal models allow scientists to study biological processes involving multiple organs and cell types, such as tumor immunology and metastasis. Zebrafish are a valuable tool to study many diseases including cancer and have been used as a model system by the genetics community for decades. They display remarkable similarities and share many genetic signatures with humans and have been used to study liver development, hepatocellular carcinoma, and several other liver disorders. This effort planned on developing a zebrafish model of FLC and harnessing this model to study how the immune system interacts with FLC.