02/24/2026
Dr. Ela Knapik, professor of Medicine, has devoted her career to solving the “jigsaw puzzles” of disease. Her lab is known internationally for studying zebrafish to unravel the often-convoluted genetic roots of rare diseases.
Complex diseases, in Knapik’s view, are like multidimensional jigsaw puzzles. Researchers try to put “a truckload of pieces (together) without knowing how many pieces are needed and what the final image looks like,” she said. To complete the puzzle, they have to figure out what each piece – each gene – does.
Knapik’s team’s study of individual genes has improved understanding of rare developmental disorders (for example, Anderson disease, a lipid malabsorption syndrome), and also more common conditions, such as atrial fibrillation.
Knapik’s lab’s two big tools: CRISPR-Cas9, and zebrafish.
The first is a revolutionary genome-editing technique. It makes it easier for researchers to add genetic mutations in model organisms, such as zebrafish, to study what happens.
And those little inch-long fish? Zebrafish eggs are fertilized outside the female’s body. Their embryos are transparent, and they grow quickly, which makes them an efficient model for studying genetic and environmental factors that influence early development of vertebrates, organisms with a spine. (In the purple image here from the lab, you can see the muscles in a zebrafish’s head. The orange image shows neurons and matrix in a zebrafish larvae.)
The gene-editing technology and the research-friendly zebrafish together help Knapik and her team solve those medical jigsaw puzzles.
“This is my calling, my excitement, my joy,” Knapik said. “Providing information on basic gene function can better patients’ lives.”
For more detail about Knapik’s work, see the link in the comments.