Reptile & Aquatics
The Reptile and Aquatics team provides the Institute’s research staff with the highest quality laboratory animal care and support services for non-mammalian species.
Research Services
The Reptile and Aquatics Facility provides specialized husbandry for a wide variety of animal species. A knowledgeable, specially-trained staff of dedicated technicians caters to the needs of the researchers. The Facility is fully accredited with AAALAC International and all housing, husbandry practices, and veterinary care for the animals are in compliance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, as well as all other institutional, state, and local regulations.
Species currently housed include:
- Whiptail lizards (Aspidoscelis spp.)
- Veiled Chameleons (Chamaeleo calyptratus)
- Zebrafish (Danio rerio)
- Mexican Tetra (Astyanax mexicanus)
- Starlet Sea Anemones (Nematostella vectensis)
- Planaria (Schmidtea spp., Dugesia spp., Phagocata spp., Girardia spp.)
- Apple Snails (Pomacea canaliculata)
- Sponges (Tethya spp.)
Staff offer a variety of technical services based on researcher needs including colony management, animal identification, breeding, embryo harvest, tissue sampling, genotyping, histology preparation, in vitro fertilization, and cryopreservation services.
Technology
The Reptile & Aquatics Facility uses the following equipment in its work:
- Pentair Fish Systems - Single and Multi-Rack Housing
- Custom-built, Species-Specific Recirculating and Flow-through Housing Systems
- Ocean Optics Spectrometer
- Leica DM IL Series Inverted Microscopes
- Leica Stereomicroscopes with Fluorescence and Microscope Cameras
Team Contact
Featured Publications
Barton CL, Baumann DP, Cox JD Incl: SC Cartner, JS Eisen, SC Farmer, KJ Guillemin, ML Kent, and GE Sanders, eds. Elsevier; 2020:433-450.
Peuss R, Zakibe Z, Krishnan J, Merryman MS, Baumann DP, Rohner N. J Vis Exp. 2019. doi: 10.3791/59334.
O'Rourke DP, Cox JD, Baumann DP. Nontraditional Species. In: 2nd Edition, RH Weichbrod, GAH Thompson, and JN Norton, eds. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press/Taylor & Francis; 2018:579-596.
Widespread failure to complete meiosis does not impair fecundity in parthenogenetic whiptail lizards
Newton AA, Schnittker RR, Yu Z, Munday SS, Baumann DP, Neaves WB, Baumann P. Development. 2016;143:4486-4494.
Diaz RE, Jr., Anderson CV, Baumann DP, Kupronis R, Jewell D, Piraquive C, Kupronis J, Winter K, Greek TJ, Trainor PA. Cold Spring Harb Protoc. 2015;2015:943-949.
Cole JC, Taylor HL, Baumann DP, Baumann P. Breviora. 2014:1-19.
