UManitoba unveils $2.5M Rady Biomedical Fish Facility

The University of Manitoba has unveiled the $2.5M Rady Biomedical Fish Facility. The facility houses approximately 2,000 zebrafish and 250 Mexican tetras. The facility includes automatically-maintained fish tanks, fish egg incubators, a confocal microscope, a micro-injection station, and a system for studying adult fish and larvae behaviour. UManitoba Assistant Professor Dr Benjamin Lindsey explained that the fish—which share around 70% of their genes with humans—can regenerate neural stem tissue after trauma. Researchers hope to study the fish to gain more insight into topics such as human embryos, brain and spinal cord injuries, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.