Aquatic Facility

The Aquatic Facility has full-time expert staff that offers services in zebrafish (Danio rerio) and frog (Xenopus laevis). The Facility has state-of-the-art housing equipment with the capacity to house up to 25,000 zebrafish in 760 tanks, and up to 250 frogs in 22 tanks. There are 6 independent rooms with species-specific areas for housing, quarantine, embryo and adult experiments, and behavior research. Other aquatic species may also be housed upon request and depending on availability. The Aquatic Facility serves a community of ~30 researchers, most of which form the IGC, but also, some external researchers.

Location: LAO building
Contacts: @: [email protected]

 

Following the Portuguese Law (Decreto Lei nº 113/2013), all research projects that use vertebrate animal models require previous approval by a National Entity, which in Portugal is the Direção Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária (DGAV). These projects must also be approved by the IGC ORBEA (Orgão Responsável pelo Bem-Estar dos Animais). Therefore, the Responsible Investigators of projects that involve the use of vertebrates must enroll in a submission process that starts with a pre-submission step to the Animal Welfare Officer of the IGC.


EQUIPMENT

Recirculation life support systems for Zebrafish
Recirculation life support systems for Xenopus
Water purification system by reverse osmosis (RO)
Microinjection workstations
Stereoscopes
Fluorescence imaging workstation
Incubators

SERVICES

Capacity to house up to 25,000 zebrafish and 250 frog distributed in different areas.

Infrastructure to run research projects. Availability provided upon inquire. Technical feasibility must be assessed (specific equipment availability, biosafety conditions, etc).

For zebrafish lines maintained at the IGC, the facility offers animal care during all lifestages.

Wt, transgenic and mutant lines can be maintained by the Facility.

Zebrafish embryos and larvae of wt, transgenic and mutant lines can be provided nationally or internationally, for research purposes.

Selection of embryos, larvae or adults with specific phenotype for colony maintenance or for research purposes.

Expertise available to revitalize cryopreserved lines, for breeding or research purposes.

Technique available to preserve zebrafish male gametes.

Aquatic animal importation and exportation processes are mediated by the Facility staff that offer support in all stages of the process.

Quarantine service for all imported and diseased animals.

Dedicated staff to maintain the infrastructure (equipment, cleaning, technical assistance, lab management).

Daily production of artemia and rotifers used as live feeds for zebrafish.

An aquatic medicine veterinary works together with the facility staff to implement the health program.

Practical training and research support, and organization of formal LAS courses through the CONGENTO Education and Training group.


PEOPLE


PUBLICATIONS

Check the papers here.


MEDIA


Consortiums

                   

Updated on 05 may 2022

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