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Research Inquiry

To inquire about obtaining specific zebrafish lines for your research, provide your contact information, along with details about the genes and mutants that interest you.

Two significant challenges faced by the pharmaceutical companies are to sustain a strong pipeline and find ways to develop drugs in a cost-effective manner. Research projects such as Znomics’ Mutational Library promise to alleviate these two obstacles by providing new functionally validated drug targets and consequently new compounds for clinical trials.”

Jean-Pierre Laurent, Ph.D.
Senior Associate
Pacific Horizon Ventures
September 2004

About the Znomics Libraries

The Znomics Libraries — the ZeneMark® Library and its subsets the Living Library and the Human Disease Gene Library — comprise a comprehensive database of catalogued mutations in zebrafish (Danio rerio) genes. By using retroviral insertional mutagenesis (RIM), our proprietary gene-modification technology,  Each retroviral insertion acts as a molecular beacon enabling the rapid identification of a disrupted gene.

Serving as the foundation for the Znomics Drug Discovery Platform, the Znomics Libraries significantly advance the technology to determine a gene’s function, facilitate the identification of genes that are optimal drug targets for human diseases, and provide the means to conduct automated, high-throughput compound screening in live animals.

The Znomics Libraries are available to partners seeking to 1) identify new targets for drug discovery through forward genetic screening, 2) validate targets identified through micro-array and other functional genomic methods, and 3) identify sites of drug action through in vivo screening of mutant lines for resistance to drug action.

Visit the Znomics Libraries by clicking on the Znomics Libraries buttons found at the top of each page in the Znomics website, or click on a direct link to one of the libraries in the descriptions to the right.

The Znomics Libraries use Ensembl technology mirroring the Sanger Center's zebrafish genome database, but with the addition of our own data. The retroviral insertions are displayed as a stand-alone track on the genome browser window. Additional search functions are also added to the genome browser for users who want to search genes with retroviral insertions by keywords or gene category.

Funded largely by a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), The ZeneMark® Library is the first of its kind — a screenable mutational library in a vertebrate. Patents on the ZeneMark® Library have been submitted.

ZeneMark Library

The ZeneMark® Library is a comprehensive and searchable collection of mutant zebrafish strains created by retroviral insertional mutagenesis. The library currently contains mutants in more than 11,000 different zebrafish genes, or approximately half of the genes in the zebrafish genome.  The library is stored in the form of sperm aliquots.  Scientists may search for mutations in their gene(s) of interest that are fully annotated in the ZeneMark® database, then use the Research Inquiry form to contact Znomics to arrange a collaborative project.

Living Library

The Living Library, a subset of the ZeneMark® Library, is a collection of zebrafish strains maintained as living lines that contain defined retroviral insertional mutations. Fish lines from the Living Library have defined heterozygous mutations.

Human Disease Library

Mutations in 354 different genes have been documented both to cause disease in humans and to be the target of FDA-approved drugs. The Human Disease Gene Library is a subset of the ZeneMark® Library cotaining mutations in the zebrafish equivalents of these human disease genes and hundreds of other human genes associated with disorders and diseases.


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