In Vitro Screening for Drug Discovery

The MNRG is a dedicated and diverse group of postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at the Nelson Mandela University. We specialise in in vitro disease models using medicinal plants and natural products of interest to determine their therapeutic potential as well as their safety and efficacy profile.

Our new exciting addition to the established cell laboratory facility is the zebrafish (Danio rerio) breeding facility (Ethics clearance number: A19-SCI-BCM-002). The zebrafish has gained intense popularity as a vertebrate in vivo model for the testing of a multitude of disease scenarios including a range of organ toxicities. It has been recently established that the level of biomedical organization of vertebrates such as fish are similar to that of rodents having only minor variations and at a molecular level, very few differences between human and fish have been found. Zebrafish eggs (up to 4 days post fertilization) can be used to test your product of interest.