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Glowing creatures create a buzz about science

October 28, 2009

Chemistry Professor Marc Zimmer calls them colleagues. Others call them salamanders, or, more specifically, axolotls. But most who come across the three glow-in-the-dark creatures in Hale Laboratory just call them "cool."

Pliny, Maximillian and Edgar are 6-month-old axolotls who have been genetically modified to fluoresce green under a blue light. Essentially, these aquatic salamanders appear to glow.

Check out the glowing axolotls on YouTube.

Zimmer purchased his new pets from scientists at the University of Kentucky, who modified the genetic makeup of the axolotls with Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), the protein responsible for making jellyfish and other organisms glow naturally. The process doesn't hurt, and Zimmer says it's unlikely that the glowing axolotls know they are any different from their brothers and sisters found in their natural habitat in Mexico.

While axolotls are commonly used for scientific experiments because of their unique ability to regenerate injured or missing body parts, Pliny, Max and Edgar don't need to worry - they are just for show and tell. Zimmer uses them to help explain the importance of GFP research.

"GFP has developed into a tremendously useful molecule with applications in many areas of science and medicine," Zimmer explained in an article he published in Chemical Biology.

Zimmer says GFP is essentially the microscope of the 21st century, since the protein allows scientists to see things that couldn't otherwise be seen, even with a microscope. For example, cancerous molecules can be tagged with GFP, and researchers can actually watch as the molecules spread to other parts of the body.

GFP has many other uses too, which Zimmer describes in his book, "Glowing Genes: A Revolution in Biotechnology." A computational chemist, Zimmer uses computer imaging to examine GFP's makeup and look for ways to modify it to develop even more useful versions. Zimmer is one of two researchers highlighted in the September issue of "Findings," a National Institutes of Health magazine for teachers and students, and the first researcher from an undergraduate institution profiled in the last 5 years.

In fact, GFP has become such an important scientific tool that three of the researchers responsible for discovering, cloning and developing GFP won the 2008 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. In a recent article in "Chemical Society Reviews," Zimmer describes how one man's curiosity about glowing jellyfish led to one of the greatest scientific discoveries of our time.

Zimmer has also discovered that GFP works wonders in elementary, middle and high school classrooms. "I want to get young people excited about science," Zimmer said. "And they love to see the animals glow."

Last week, Pliny, Maximillian and Edgar took their first trip, to Middletown High School, where they met with four biology classes. The students were fascinated by the green fluorescent amphibians and their ability to regenerate not only damaged limbs, but parts of their brains as well.

"Seeing the students run off to tell their friends about these weird creatures makes it worth having an extra aquarium to keep clean," Zimmer said.

For media inquiries contact: Amy Martin (860) 439-2526; a.martin@conncoll.edu