The facility contains three isolated exposure laborato- ries,  each  with  single-pass  climate  control,  independent lighting,  and  capability  for  bench-level  treatment  of effluents,  along  with  multiple  effluent  discharge  options. Most  long-term  bioassays  are  conducted  in  special  cham- bers designed for specific exposures (Manning et al., 1999). Such chambers are large, ranging from about 4 × 10 ft to about  8  ×  14  ft.  They  are  completely  self-contained  and equipped with gloved or hinged ports or sliding glass doors. Water  baths  maintain  the  temperature  within  prescribed ranges and lighting systems provide the appropriate photo- period and mimic dusk and dawn. Diluters and water par- titioners meet the wide variety of exposures demanded for testing single compounds, complex chemical mixtures, sedi- ments, and drilling fluids, and mixed effluents. Special tech- niques, including using grinder pumps, saturation columns, and stirred carboys, were developed for working with rela- tively  insoluble  materials  (polyaromatic  hydrocarbons,  di- butyltin, chlorinated hydrocarbons), providing a preferable alternative to using solvents or carriers. Services Embryos, fry, or adult fish are provided to researchers at minimal cost. Collaborations are encouraged with other investigators interested in using exposure technologies and pathology facilities of the laboratory. Contacts William E. Hawkins: william.hawkins@usm.edu; Steve Manning  (toxicology;  exposure  systems):  steve.manning@ usm.edu;  Sue  Barnes  (animal  husbandry);  sue.barnes@ usm.edu;  Gulf  Coast  Research  Laboratory,  The  University of Southern Mississippi, PO Box 7000, 703 East Beach Drive (for parcel delivery), Ocean Springs, MS 39564, USA; tele- phone: 228-875-2244; fax: 228-872-4204. THE  ZEBRAFISH  INTERNATIONAL RESOURCE  CENTER Program  Description Zebrafish  (Danio  rerio)  emerged  recently  as  an  important organism  to  study  vertebrate  development  and  genetics. Powerful techniques allow mutations to be efficiently gen- erated and recovered. Ongoing genetic screens have identi- fied  over  7000  mutations  in  zebrafish  affecting  genes  that regulate developmental patterns, organogenesis, physiology, and  behavior.  The  functions  of  many  of  these  genes  are conserved  among  vertebrate  groups.  Thus,  analyzing  ze- brafish  mutations  provides  insights  into  gene  functions  in other vertebrates, including humans. The  mission  of  the  Zebrafish  International  Resource Center is to provide a central repository for wild-type and mutant strains of zebrafish, and for materials and informa- tion about research on them. The resource center is housed on  the  University  of  Oregon  campus  in  Eugene.  Detailed information  about  the  center  is  found  on  the  worldwide web and in numerous publications that describe the center’s activities, including Sprague et al. (2001) and Westerfield et al. (1999). Materials and zebrafish strains are distributed to the  research  community.  Pathology  services  are  provided for diagnosing disease. Standards and procedures for main- taining healthy strains of zebrafish are being developed and a manual is being prepared on preventing, diagnosing and treating diseases in zebrafish. Services Healthy stocks of zebrafish and frozen sperm are main- tained  and  distributed  to  the  research  community.  Strains of  wild-type  fish  and  lines  carrying  mutations  and  trans- genes  are  accepted  from  the  research  community,  main- tained, and distributed upon request. Embryos preserved in fixative at various developmental stages are available from these lines for histological, biochemical, or molecular bio- logical studies. Researchers are welcome to visit the resource center  to  screen  the  collection  for  mutations  or  to  learn procedures.  To  submit  fish  or  sperm  or  to  order  fish  or embryos, e-mail: fish_requests@zfin.org. Advice is given about the health of zebrafish. Diseased fish and tissue samples may be sent to the resource center for  pathological  analysis.  Antibodies,  gene  probes,  and other  markers  to  analyze  wild-type  and  mutant  stocks  as well as zebrafish cell lines are received, stored, and distrib- uted.  An  on-line  database  (ZFIN;  http://zfin.org)  contains information about research including data on genetics, ge- nomics, and development. Information about the resources and services provided by the resource center are available, as is a list of zebrafish researchers, laboratories, and publica- tions.  ZFIN  integrates  information  related  to  the  genetic map being generated by the zebrafish genome initiative and provides links to related information about genes in other species-specific databases. Researchers can use ZFIN to reg- ister and submit to the nomenclature committee new names S244 William E. Hawkins et al. Next >>