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About

Herman P. Spaink is a pioneering researcher whose work sits at the intersection of zebrafish biology, infectious disease, and high-throughput technology. His primary research areas include tuberculosis pathogenesis, host-pathogen interactions, and the development of automated systems for zebrafish-based drug screening. Spaink’s major contributions include establishing the zebrafish embryo as a powerful, whole-organism model for studying tuberculosis progression, notably using *Mycobacterium marinum* as a surrogate for *M. tuberculosis*. His landmark 2011 paper on zebrafish as disease models has garnered over 250 citations, while his work on a high-throughput screen for tuberculosis has been cited more than 120 times. A standout achievement is his development of robotic injection systems for zebrafish embryos, enabling automated, high-throughput RNA silencing and CRISPR-based gene targeting—a technological leap that accelerates functional genomics and drug discovery. His recent studies continue to refine these methods and deepen our understanding of the innate immune response to mycobacterial infection. Spaink’s innovative fusion of robotics, zebrafish genetics, and infection biology has positioned him as a leading figure in translational biomedical research.