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U.S. Response: Scientists Studying Use of Fish to Detect Biological, Chemical Agents Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Center for Water Security are examining whether a species of fish could be used to help detect toxins placed in the U.S. drinking water supply by terrorists, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, May 29). Center scientists are studying whether zebrafish could be used to detect the presence of toxins in water, according Michael Carvan, head of the project. The fish are genetically modified to glow when they encounter different types and levels of chemicals, AP reported. For example, scientists expose the fish to high levels of E. coli. Only those fish with the gene to react to high levels of the bacterium should glow, while others should remain a dull gray, AP reported. More work still needs to be done, however, before the fish could be used to test water supplies, Carvan said. “We can get them to light up,” Carvan said. “But they don’t pass that trait onto the next generation,” he said (Tim Cigelske, Associated Press, Aug. 4). Researchers at the Office of Naval Research and Duke University are also working on ways to modify organisms to react to the presence of certain materials, such as toxins and pathogens, according to New Technology Week. The scientists are working to develop a method to produce proteins that could link to molecules of a substance to be identified. Those proteins, which could also include a fluorescent molecule to glow in the presence of the substance, could then be inserted into organisms for use as chemical and biological detectors (Dave Ahearn, New Technology Week, Aug. 4).
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