Facilities

Lab Facilities

The Fish Physiology Laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure and modern instruments, developed with the financial assistance from EU and National grands. It provides education, training and research on adaptation physiology, stress biology and welfare of fish species.

Zebrafish Unit Marine Fish Unit

The Zebrafish Unit is capable of housing up to 5,000 adult zebrafish. It is composed of quarantine aquaria, broodstock aquaria, breeding tanks, climate chamber for egg incubation and larval rearing, rearing racks and brine shrimp hatcher. The zebrafish housing system was installed by Techniplast. It is equipped with a reverse osmosis water purification system, control box which automatically monitors pH, conductivity, temperature, water level and water renewal. Water treatment unit includes fine mechanical filter, carbon filtration and high UV disinfection, as well as pre-filtration and biological filtration at rack level.

Behavioral Monitoring

The Behavioural Room is equipped with homemade customized devices for monitoring of stress, anxiety, aggression, exploratory behaviour, learning and memory in adult zebrafish, in relation to coping styles. Tracking and analysis of fish behaviour, movement and activity is performed by the use of the EthoVision XT video tracking software. High-throughput testing of zebrafish larvae (activity, movement patterns, motor control, behaviour) is monitored by the DanioVision Observation Chamber.

Respiratory Unit

The Respiratory/Metabolic Unit was installed by LoligoSystems. The system include four horizontal chambers (of various sizes), oxygen sensors, controllers and everything needed for fully automated oxygen consumption measurements in individually housed fish. An automated intermittent respirometry software provides data on Active and Resting Metabolic Rate of fish.

The Marine Fish Unit is part of the Animal House Facilities at the Dept. of Biology, UoC, licenced by the local authorities to conduct research on fish physiology stress and welfare in relation to climate change challenges. The facility is currently under renovation.

Laboratory Unit

The Fish Physiology Lab is designed and equipped to provide education, training and research on stress physiology, health, welfare status and fish performance. The lab’s efficient systems enable routine testing for more than 30 tests using blood, tissues, eggs and larvae samples from various fish species. The Lab perfroms:
- Molecular determinations
- Haematology tests (Hct, Hb, complete blood
counts and blood smears)
- Clinical biochemistry tests (glucose, glycogen,
lactate, lipids, total proteins, albumin, electrolytes,
osmolality)
- Enzymatic tests to assess liver and kidney function
and antioxidant capacity
- Hormonal tests (T, E2, cortisol, ACTH, GH, IGFs)
- Immunological tests (Lysozyme, Complement C)

Microinjection facility