Nashoba Tech Biotech Students Study Genetics of Zebrafish

WESTFORD, MA — Students in the Biotechnology program at Nashoba Valley Technical High School are rolling up their sleeves this year to learn about the ethical care of laboratory animals.

But what animal?

When people think of lab animals, they usually think about mice or rats. But instructor John Milhaven went a different direction.

"I thought mice or rats would be expensive and smelly," he said.

His second thought? Fruit flies.

But Nashoba Tech is a school that — under normal, non-pandemic circumstances — features an award-winning restaurant run by staff and students in the Culinary Arts program that is open to the public.

So the idea of fruit flies fizzled.

“I was afraid if the fruit flies got out and made their way into the cafeteria or into Culinary Arts, I could be in trouble,” he said. “Then, I thought of zebrafish.”

Fish do gather in schools, after all.

But there are more benefits than tongue-in-cheek jokes and smell that come with studying zebrafish in a biotech class.

“Zebrafish are very highly used in genetics and embryological studies,” Milhaven said. “I figured it would be interesting and engaging for students to have an animal they can look at and take care of. The students can put on their resumes that they’ve worked with zebrafish and are familiar with their care, and what it takes to make them healthy and happy.”

Zebrafish are also cordates — they have a spinal cord — so their genetics are much closer to human's than fruit flies, he said.

Milhaven set up an small aquarium in the biotechnology classroom, bought six zebrafish from The Fish Nook in Acton, and got the students involved in feeding and caring for them, including checking the various chemical levels of the water.

"The goal is to get a colony going so they’re self-sustaining," Milhaven said. "I knew a tiny bit about zebrafish, but I’m learning, too.”