Session Description: Studying the mechanisms, origins, or treatments of single ventricle disease benefits from the use of model organisms. In this session, we will discuss the potential advantages and limitations of using various model organisms – including drosophila, zebrafish, chick, and murine models – to study congenital heart disease. Panelists will briefly overview how they use their model organism of choice to investigate the role of genes and function, identify opportunities and limitations of each model system, and discuss approaches to overcome species-specific constraints.

Moderator:

Luis Hernandez-Nunez, PhD, Harvard University

Panelists:

Rolf Bodmer, PhD, Sanford Burnham Prebys

Caroline Burns, PhD, Boston Children’s Hospital

Geoff Burns, PhD, Boston Children’s Hospital

Jonathan Butcher, PhD, Cornell University

Benoit Bruneau, PhD, Gladstone Institutes

Tony Firulli, PhD, Indiana University

Alison Marsden, PhD, Stanford University

Georg Vogler, PhD, Sanford Burnham Prebys