Two minutes

Fishing for genes

Jeffrey Essner studies zebrafish to look for new cancer treatments. These tiny fish produce transparent embryos that develop outside of their mother, making it easy to watch embryo development under a microscope.

Outside the classroom: The assistant professor of genetics, development and cell biology maintains an active colony of zebrafish to screen for developmental mutants with relevance to cancer at ISU.

Cutting-edge research: Blood vessels form in excess to feed cancer cells. Essner wants to find the genes related to blood vessel development, and figure out how to turn them off to starve and kill tumors.

A different path: Worked in industry for three years for a biotech company.

For fun: Genetically modified a fish to send off a fluorescent glow.
Jeffrey Essner

"We have become fairly proficient at curing mice of cancer. However, when we go to the clinic with these same tools, they don't seem to work so well on humans. And so, it's really calling for a different kind of approach."

Jeffrey Essner


Essner is among Iowa State's professors. You'll find him teaching biology classes. More Two-Minute briefs.