Baroness Gillian Merron, the Health Minister responsible for life sciences and innovation toured some of UCL's life sciences facilities to see first-hand how research is helping to tackle some of the world's biggest health challenges.
Baroness Merron was joined by Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), and was welcomed to UCL by Professor Geraint Rees (UCL Vice-Provost for Research, Innovation & Global Engagement) and Professor Gail Taylor (Dean for UCL Faculty of Life Sciences) for a tour of the UCL Zebrafish Facility.
The UCL Zebrafish Facility houses hundreds of genetically different lines of fish and researchers use their embryos for their studies - as they are optically transparent and genetically tractable making them ideally suited for studies of cell and tissue behaviour and function.
Zebrafish also exhibit sleep, social, hunting and other complex behaviours, which are important for helping researchers understand the neuroanatomy of the brain.
As part of the visit, Baroness Merron was guided through the lab by Professor Steve Wilson (Associate Research Director for University Partnerships at the Francis Crick Institute) and Professor Isaac Bianco (Principal Research Fellow, UCL Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology).
The minister also had the opportunity to feed some of the zebrafish and examine some fluorescent eggs through a microscope.
