Zebrafish & Lamprey Facilities

ZEBRAFISH FACILITY

The zebrafish facility in the Beckman Institute basement is currently comprised of a fish room with a 1000 tank housing capacity, 300 breeding pair capacity and is maintained by a state of the art Multi-rack re-circulating Aquaneering aquatic housing system that is fully automated. This facility is large enough to permit investigators to conduct genetic screens. The fish room is also equipped with a special light box, which allows for time-sensitive breeding.

For genetic manipulation purposes, there are two dedicated micro-injectors, four microscopes, and two fluorescent microscopes. Two 28°C incubators facilitate the development of harvested eggs to larval stages, and there is another 22°C incubator to permit slower development of embryos/larvae. Another added advantage is that the fish facility is in close proximity to the Beckman Institute Imaging Center, thus allowing investigators to make time-lapse movies with ease. A dedicated technician, who is an expert in maintaining fish, is currently employed to maintain the aquatic housing systems, feed fish, ensure that the housed fish population is healthy, clean tanks, set up crosses, and maintain lines.

LAMPREY FACILITY

There are very few places in the world where one can work with lampreys, and the facility at Caltech combines access to breeding lampreys and to state-of-the-art molecular genetic facilities. The existing facility includes a re-circulating tank system, incubators for housing embryos, and a dedicated microscope space kept at an appropriately low (<18°C) temperature. We have four 250-liter tanks with appropriate biological filtration and aeration to house a maximum of approximately 80 adult lampreys at one time. Gravid Lampreys captured by the Fish and Wildlife Service are shipped from Marquette, MI, and immediately introduced to our tank system. Once lampreys are acclimated to the system, gradual increases in water temperature trigger final gamete maturation, allowing in vitrofertilization. We usually isolate 10,000-20,000 embryos per female. Embryos are incubated at 18°C, and sorted daily to minimize mortality.