Zebrafish facility
About us
The zebrafish (Daniorerio) is an established vertebrate model species used to explore development and gene function. With the increase in use of zebrafish since 2005 at QMUL our facility has been expanding steadily. We currently house a breeding room, behavioural observation room, a larger aquarium housing nursery area and nine stand-alone units with a total capacity to hold over 5000 fish.
Our services
The zebrafish facility within the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at QMUL is dedicated to the maintenance of wild type, mutant and transgenic stock lines (for available lines please contact facility manager). We provide zebrafish embryos as well as adults for your experimental needs subject to home office guidelines. We can accommodate specific requirements, giving advice on experimental design and guidance regarding current home office guidelines. Please refer to our service level agreement [PDF 60 KB].
All established lines are from bleached embryos.
Feeding Our Fish
The zebrafish at Queen Mary are fed 3 times a day. This feeding regime includes various dry flake food , and 2 courses of 48 hour old Artemianaupili. Nursery fry are fed on a ZM powder and live food (Artemia) diet.
Tank leasing
Investigators wishing to house their fish in the Queen Mary facility may rent any of three different size tanks – 1.5 litres, 3 litres, or 10litreshoused in stand-alone units (Aquatic Habitats) available on a first come first serve basis. Larger tanks of 40litres are also available for use. The systems are maintained at a constant temperature of 28°C and water quality is regularly monitored. All systems are alarmed, and a maintenance person is on-call 24 hrs/day to ensure safe keeping of all fish.The facility is maintained by a full-time technician skilled in zebrafish husbandry.
There are three photoperiod spaces available, some of which can be adjusted to fit your experimental schedule.All photoperiods within the Facility operate on a 14hour "light", 10hour "dark" cycle.
Other services available
• Behavioural observation software and equipment
• Fluorescence imagery
• Micro-Injectors
Booking
For booking please check the calendars for embryo booking, behaviour room and microscope room availability. Embryos must be booked three days in advance with an indication of the number (maximum of 300 eggs/day) and stage of eggs required, as well as fish strain. Fluorescence microscopes and injectors are available to be booked in morning or afternoon slots. Please book as far in advance as possible to guarantee availability.
Charging
There are a range of charges for SBCS staff [PDF 40 KB], academic users [PDF 20 KB] other than SBCS staff and commercial users [PDF 36 KB]. Alternatively, you can obtain a quote for your individual needs by contacting Fraser Combe.
Email billing will be sent at the end of every month for facility usage.
If you would like to use our facility or if you require any help and advice with zebrafish husbandry, please contact Fraser Combe with an order form [DOC 27 KB] attached.
The uses of zebrafish in the UK are covered by the Scientific Procedures Act (1986). Once five days old, a home office licence is required to cover all experiments and researchers.