This is our first podcast in Telugu – the sixth in an ongoing series titled ‘Sea of Science’, or ‘ విజ్ఞాన సాగరం ’.

This podcast is a joint venture with Deepthi Tadepalli and Sumana Chavali.

Deepthi works as a freelance writer with a background in biotechnology and communication. Sumana is an engineer working at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

This episode is part of our ongoing effort to make science podcasts in many Indian languages. Click and listen to this podcast in Tamizh, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and Assamese.

Here is an English transcript for this Telugu podcast:

Deepthi: Hello! My name is Deepthi and I am a freelance writer with a background in biotechnology and communication. 

Sumana: Hi! My name is Sumana and I am an engineer working at Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

Deepthi: This podcast is a collaboration between us and IndScicomm, a science communication collective. In its ongoing efforts, IndSciComm has published podcasts as well as written articles that discuss interesting aspects of scientific research, the researchers involved in this effort, their discoveries and the effects of scientific progress on the past, present and future of human society. IndSciComm also collaborates with Indian scientists, researchers and writers at all levels of the scientific enterprise in creating its science communication materials.

Sumana: We are very happy to present this podcast in Telugu, which is one of the national languages of India. With the help of other collaborators, IndSciComm is publishing this podcast in other Indian languages as part of its ongoing project.

Deepthi: In this podcast, we will be talking about model organisms that are used in biological research. Now, let’s discuss model organisms. Here are some examples of model organisms that are used to study aspects of the human body’s growth, development, functioning and disorders: different species of microbes, flies, zebrafish, birds, mice, rats, guinea pigs and monkeys.

In the context of biomedical research that is done to understand human biology,  the foremost reason for the use of model organisms is that it is not possible to conduct some forms of biological experiments on humans. So, scientists have chosen organisms that are a close enough match to humans in terms of their genes and other biological features, and use these as model organisms for their research.

Sumana: Apart from how similar model organisms are to humans in terms of their genes and genomes, there are other important reasons for some organisms being chosen as model organisms rather than others. The ease with which certain organisms can be reared and maintained in the laboratory and the kind of experiments that they can be used for… These are the factors that scientists use to choose the appropriate organism to use as a model, to answer questions about specific biological phenomena.

Deepthi: Sumana, could you give us some examples of model organisms that are used in specific areas of biological research?

Sumana: Specific model organisms are used in different areas of research. For example, regeneration is studied using certain species of worms. The relationship between genes and the environment is researched using certain species of flies. Zebrafish are preferred model organisms for researching embryonic development. Zebrafish larvae have transparent bodies which makes observing their internal organs really easy. Another example is the use of mammals like mice in biomedical research.

Deepthi: Is there an advantage to using model organisms like mice in biomedical research?

Sumana: Some diseases take years to show symptoms in human beings. But, in certain lineages of model organisms, diseases can show symptoms in relatively reduced timeframes, like weeks. Due to this, it is easier to conduct research about certain diseases in such model organisms. This is why scientists use model organisms li