Oregon has much to be proud of for its contributions to science, particularly in the biomedical research field. While you have heard us rightfully boast about the accreditation, care, and advances the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) has achieved in this arena, we must also recognize other incredible institutions that conduct biomedical research from which so many of us benefit.
For instance, did you know that while Oregon is home to the largest nationally recognized primate center, it is also home to not one, but two globally important zebrafish facilities? One belongs to the University of Oregon (UO) while the other resides at Oregon State University (OSU). No word yet on whether the Ducks and the Beavers argue about whose fish are better.
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Birthplace of a New Model
Eugene is actually where the zebrafish model was developed. In the late 1960s, Charline Walker and George Streisinger, a geneticist at UO, brought the first zebrafish into their lab from a local pet store. In 1981, Streisinger published a method for cloning a vertebrate, a full fifteen years before Dolly the sheep. That work established zebrafish as an outstanding choice for genetic research and put the University of Oregon on the map as a center for molecular genetics.
Zebrafish turned out to be a surprisingly good stand-in for us. About 85% of human disease-associated genes are present in zebrafish and function similarly. Today roughly 1,500 labs around the world use zebrafish in their research, many of them working from UO genetic strains.
The Zebrafish International Resource Center (ZIRC) at UO in Eugene is a central repository for wild-type and mutant strains, and it distributes materials to labs worldwide. Its sister resource, the Zebrafish Information Network (ZFIN), is also housed at UO and serves as the field’s database for zebrafish genetics, genomics, and development. ZIRC additionally runs cryopreservation and diagnostic health services, the latter in collaboration with the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory.
This is true scientific infrastructure, and it is a strong example of Reduction, one of the 3Rs. A shared repository means other labs don’t have to rebuild the same genetic lines from scratch, and cryopreservation means strains can be kept frozen rather than maintained as living colonies. This way, fewer fish are bred to do the same work.
Accredited Care in Eugene and Corvallis
The Sinnhuber Aquatic Research Laboratory (SARL) sits just outside Corvallis and houses around 30,000 zebrafish with over 4,000 tanks. OSU describes it as the only facility in the world that is Specific Pathogen Free for Pseudoloma neurophilia, a spore-forming microscopic parasite that infects the central nervous system of zebrafish. Research at SARL focuses largely on toxicology, along with genetics and nutrition studies.
Both universities hold AAALAC accreditation, just like ONPRC. This is a voluntary layer of animal care and facility oversight that goes beyond what the law already requires (we cover AAALAC in more detail here). OSU’s animal care and use program is fully accredited, with its most recent site visit in July 2024. AAALAC specifically encourages programs working with fish and other nontraditional research animals to seek accreditation, and both Oregon schools have followed through.
Zebrafish as a NAM
New Approach Methodologies, or NAMs, are usually described as non-animal methods built to replace animal models completely, but that description is inaccurate. A NAM is any method that answers a scientific question while reducing or replacing the animals that would otherwise be needed. Even still, some NAMs also use living animals.
Zebrafish are one of them.
In July 2026, a team including Lisa Truong and Robyn Tanguay at OSU published a four-laboratory study testing 33 chemicals in zebrafish larvae for developmental neurotoxicity, meaning harm to a nervous system that is still forming. The test flagged 93% of the chemicals already known to cause that harm (Truong et al., 2026).
The researchers referred to the zebrafish assay as a first-tier, efficient screen that sorts a long list of chemicals and decides which ones need a closer look. They did not view the model as a replacement for other animals. In their own framing, it bridges cell-based screening and mammalian studies, sending information to both.
This is a good example of something we have said before: NAMs and animal models work as partners rather than competitors. A NAM like this one cuts down on how many animals are needed overall and helps researchers ask sharper questions of the animals they do use. It just happens that in this case, the NAM is an animal itself.
One State, Many Models
We think Oregon’s research story is bigger than any one facility. A few fish from a Eugene pet store became a model that labs all over the world now depend on, a lab outside Corvallis is helping regulators figure out which chemicals deserve a closer look, and a primate center in Hillsboro is doing work that neither of those places could take on. That is a lot of science for one state, and most Oregonians have no idea any of it is here. We think that is worth bragging about.
Learn More
Curious about the research happening at each facility? Start with UO’s zebrafish overview and OSU’s Zebrafish Biomedical Research Core. You can also read about the SARL modernization project funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.
For a look at this work close to home, OSU researchers recently paired chemical analysis with zebrafish toxicity testing to screen tap water from twelve public water systems across western Oregon. The study is open access on PubMed Central (Bright et al., 2026).
If you found this post interesting, share it with a friend who may not know Oregon had a hand in all of this.
References
- AAALAC International. (n.d.). Directory of accredited organizations.
- Bright, P. W., Jackson, M. E., Fender, C. L., Lee, K., Haggerty, C., Schindler, J., Truong, L., Tanguay, R. L., & Garcia-Jaramillo, M. (2026). Integrated chemical and toxicity screening of tap drinking water across western Oregon using suspect and nontarget screening. Environmental Science & Technology, 60(25), 17706-17717. PMID: 42304736
- Oregon State University Division of Research and Innovation. (n.d.). IACUC frequently asked questions.
- Oregon State University Superfund Research Center. (n.d.). Sinnhuber Aquatic Research Laboratory tour.
- Truong, L., Hsieh, J. H., Ellis, L., Jaka, O., Muriana, A., Molina-Martínez, B., Del Pozo, A., Schiavone, V., Di Donato, V., Sanz, C. M., Tanguay, R. L., Hessel, E., & Ryan, K. (2026). Zebrafish behavioral assessment as a first-tier whole-organism NAM for developmental neurotoxicity: A multi-laboratory evaluation. Neurotoxicology, 116, 103504. PMID: 42392410
- University of Oregon Research and Innovation. (n.d.). Zebrafish.