CFH2a partnership - A new partnership to assess zebrafish models of human disease using evolutionary algorithms

Some diseases are caused by inheriting a faulty gene. To understand how faulty genes cause human disease we use zebrafish because it shares similar genes and anatomy with humans. We have generated zebrafish that have mutations in genes that cause Parkinson’s Disease (PD) in humans. To determine whether our PD fish share symptoms with PD patients, we developed a computational method to measure differences in movement using a type of machine learning called EA (evolutionary algorithm). We have successfully used this method to correctly classify fish carrying a mutation in the PD gene PINK1. This project will partner our labs with a lab in Australia modelling muscular dystrophy(MD) in zebrafish, so we can use our method there. This collaboration will promote our technology to the wider biomedical community and advance our work to attract RCUK funding so that our partnership will continue to develop, leading to novel therapies for myopathies and PD.