Model organisms research: The foundation for understanding, regulating, and engineering life

Model organisms refer to a class of non-human experimental systems that have been widely adopted across the life sciences to uncover fundamental principles of biology [1] . Their defining strengths, including experimental tractability, well-established methodologies, and exceptional reproducibility, make them indispensable platforms for pushing the frontiers of biological knowledge. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) defines classical model organisms as spanning a broad phylogenetic spectrum, from mice and zebrafish to fruit flies, Caenorhabditis elegans , Saccharomyces cerevisiae , and Arabidopsis thaliana [2] . Relying on these model organism systems, researchers have been able to dissect the basic principles governing life processes across species and biological scales, leading to numerous landmark discoveries and Nobel Prize-recognized breakthroughs, while continually shaping the conceptual and theoretical foundations of modern biology. Today, the role of model organisms is expanding in step with the transformation of the life sciences. As life science moves into an era defined by systems-level regulation, and engineering-based reconstruction, model organisms are evolving from tools for explaining life into foundational platforms for decoding biological logic, reshaping biological function, and ultimately designing living systems. Against this backdrop, Model Organisms Research seeks to establish an international, multidisciplinary platform that integrates diverse model systems, publishes original and transformative research, and promotes the continued development of model organism research in fundamental discovery, mechanistic investigation, and frontier applications.