Developing the Fathead Minnows as an Immunotoxicty Model
Our lab is currently working to develop a small fish species, the fathead minnow, as a model organisms for immunotoxicity testing. Currently, few aquatic organisms have been utilized to assess the ability of common environmental contaminants to alter immune function, despite evidence indicating that various contaminants have the potential to modulate immunity. To better evaluate the potential impacts of such contaminants, sufficient model organisms and test methods are needed. To this end, we have been characterizing basic aspects of fathead minnow immune function and validating the use of this species through evaluation of chemically-induced immunomodulation. Publications related to this work are available here and here.