# Development of Germplasm Resources for Preservation of Aquatic Models

> **NIH NIH R24** · LOUISIANA STATE UNIV AGRICULTURAL CENTER · 2021 · $486,056

## Abstract

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a powerful model in biomedical research and laboratories around the
world have produced tens of thousands of mutant and transgenic lines. Maintaining these
valuable genotypes as live fish is expensive, risky, and beyond the capacity of stock centers. As
such, cryopreservation has become a necessity and most of these genetic resources are now
maintained as samples of inconsistent quality frozen with rudimentary techniques. Quality
control has not been practiced in any systematic way, reproducibility is poor, and protocols are
not standardized. It is common to have problems and failures in fertilization resulting in lost lines
that need to be recreated, causing facilities to waste considerable time and effort. This is largely
due to the false notion that neglecting quality control saves time and money. However, rather
than being reduced, these costs are shifted downstream through wasted storage space and
reduced fertilization. This pervasive lack of quality control has placed the substantial
investments in biomedical research at great risk. Therefore, our long-term goal is to provide
inexpensive, universally available and systematic quality control leading to development of
community-based standards for cryopreservation. This will enable reliable contributions from
individual laboratories to large comprehensive repositories providing protection for genetic
resources pivotal in biomedical research. To achieve this, we propose to improve reliability and
efficiency by providing routine access to reproducibility and standardization through continued
development of microfabricated (“laboratory on a chip”) and 3-dimensional (3-D) printed devices
encompassing all process steps from sample collection through fertilization. The Specific Aims
are to: 1) Develop and test microfabricated devices that can be used by research laboratories at
low effort and cost to improve assessment and study of sperm concentration and motility with
respect to the effects of these factors on reproducibility and the overall success of
cryopreservation. 2) Develop and test 3-D printed devices that can be used to improve the
reproducibility of the freezing process. These devices will address conventional
cryopreservation and vitrification, and be useful for single samples and pooled batches. 3)
Perform biological testing of these devices to refine design and function and improve the
reproducibility of quality assessment to enable research laboratories to back up lines or submit
them to stock centers and germplasm repositories. This will provide a community-based
approach for protection of genetic resources through systematic incorporation of devices,
guidelines and standards applicable across a full range of activity scopes and scales.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10197245
- **Project number:** 5R24OD010441-11
- **Recipient organization:** LOUISIANA STATE UNIV AGRICULTURAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** HARVEY D. BLACKBURN
- **Activity code:** R24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $486,056
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2007-04-01 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10197245

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10197245, Development of Germplasm Resources for Preservation of Aquatic Models (5R24OD010441-11). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10197245. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*