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Abstract Development of reliable germplasm repositories is critical for preservation of genetic resources of aquatic species, which are widely utilized to support biomedical innovation by providing a foundational source for naturally occurring variation and development of new variants through genetic manipulations. A significant barrier in repository development is the lack of cryopreservation capability and reproducibility across the research community, posing great risks of losing advances developed from billions of dollars of research investment. The emergence of open scientific hardware has fueled a new movement across biomedical research communities. With the increasing accessibility of consumer‐level fabrication technologies, such as three‐dimensional printers, open hardware devices can be custom designed, and design files distributed to community members for enhancing rigor, reproducibility, and standardization. The overall goal of this review is to explore pathways to create open‐hardware ecosystems among the communities using aquatic model resources for biomedical research. To gain feedback and insights from community members, an interactive workshop focusing on open‐hardware applications in germplasm repository development was held at the 2022 Aquatic Models for Human Disease Conference, Woods Hole, Massachusetts. This work integrates conceptual strategies with practical insights derived from workshop interactions using examples of germplasm repository development. These insights can be generalized for establishment of open‐hardware ecosystems for a broad biomedical research community. The specific objectives were to: (1) introduce an open‐hardware ecosystem concept to support biomedical research; (2) explore pathways toward open‐hardware ecosystems through four major areas, and (3) identify opportunities and future directions.
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Nontraditional models as research tools: the road not taken
Historical reasons resulted in the almost exclusive use of a few species, most prominently Mus musculus, as the mainstream models in biomedical research. This selection was not based on Mus’s distinctive relevance to human disease but rather to the pre-existing availability of resources and tools for the species that were used as models, which has enabled their adoption for research in health sciences. Unless the utilization and range of nontraditional research models expand considerably, progress in biomedical research will remain restricted within the trajectory that has been set by the existing models and their ability to provide clinically relevant information.
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- PAR ID:
- 10529141
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Trends in Molecular Medicine
- ISSN:
- 1471-4914
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmed.2024.07.005
