Dr Itamar Harel focuses on the development of an innovative genetic model - the African Turquoise Killifish that grows older at an accelerated rate and is used to study the aging process and age-related diseases. This is the only vertebrate model available for this purpose.

Dr. Harel hopes to use the Killfish model as a platform to test the efficacy of specific drugs and their effect on age-related diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Using this model to characterize manipulations that affect the rate of aging may delay the onset of these devastating diseases, and will thus have a huge impact on human health.

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