SINGAPORE -- Scientists are tackling an ambitious new project in the hope a tiny, transparent fish will help them understand the development of liver cancer, a very common form of the disease in the Asia-Pacific region, it was reported on Tuesday.

About 50 researchers and scientists are focusing on the Zebrafish during the next five years at the Genome Institute of Singapore, assisted by millions of dollars in government grants, **** The Straits Times **** said.

Like humans, Zebrafish can be prone to cancer, assistant professor Low Boon Chuan, with the National University of Singapore's Department of Biological Sciences, told **** The Straits Times ****.

"We will be studying the culprits that cause liver cancer -- what genes are being either activated and turned off when the disease occurs, as well as the role of carcinogens," he was quoted as saying.

"Then, we may be able to design drugs to block the genes or cancer-causing proteins from working," he added.

Liver cancer is the fourth most common type of the disease among men in the city-state, although it is uncommon in women.

The zebrafish has genes which are similar to human genes.

"Because its body is transparent, we can look at how the embryos are developing and actually see which genes have been activated and where this is taking place in the fish," DPA quoted Low, the team's principal investigator as saying. Dr. S. Mathavan, a research scientist at the institute, said about 16,000 zebrafish genes will be studied "at any particular time after exposing them to cancer-causing toxins, drugs or hormones."