Zebrafish Lab Expansion
UMaine’s Zebrafish Facility is critical to the majority of the Research Project Leaders (RPLs) on the COBRE grant. Overall, 12 UMaine faculty, their technicians, undergraduate, and graduate students use the Zebrafish Facility for their research on an annual basis. These faculty represent a number of different units at UMaine including the Department of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, the School of Biology and Ecology, and the School of Marine Sciences. Zebrafish have been used by UMaine faculty studying many different disease processes, including influenza, muscular dystrophy, and Candida fungal infections. The Zebrafish Facility is also relevant to UMaine faculty in disciplines such as electrical and computer engineering, who are developing devices and technologies to address the prevention and treatment of human disease processes.
The Zebrafish facility located on the 1st floor of Hitchner Hall is expanding to double the space. After completing the design phase of construction documents, construction is in progress. Demolition of the expansion space began during winter break. The design firm is Carpenter Associates, and the construction manager is Allied Cook Construction.
Funding sources for this project include 300k from the COBRE grant towards construction costs, a University of Maine VPR contribution, a supplemental NIH grant to COBRE PI Clarissa Henry and cost share from the University of Maine to outfit the facility with racks, tanks and water handling equipment.
Studying zebrafish to improve human health
