Introduction

The infrastructure offered by CSIC is made up of two types of installations (IATS-EXP, IATS-ANA) located in the campus of the Instituto de Acuicultura de Torre de la Sal (IATS) (Castellón, Spain. IATS offers the use of experimental tanks (EXP) and the use of analytical labs (ANA).

The users will be able to develop a research project using highly qualified facilities and having access to a research environment which has proven to be highly productive in the previous AQUAEXCEL and AQUAEXCEL2020 projects. Users will have the opportunity to consult, have advice and interchange ideas with experts on most of the disciplines in Aquaculture, with notable excellence in marine fish parasites, fish pathology, fish immunology, nutrigenomics, genomics, biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology to study and control fish reproduction, food intake and growth, Artemia and fish larviculture.

Expected output/deliverables for infrastructures users: water parameters, biometrical data of fish, feeding and growth data, mortality records after challenges, metabolic scoring of exercised and freeswimming fish, serum and tissue samples for individual genotyping, analysis of differential gene expression, DNA methylation patterns, gut microbiota, histo-pathological scoring, pathological diagnoses, and immunological, biochemical and metabolic profiling. The presentation of results in conferences and scientific publications resulting from the projects are highly envisaged.

Support offered under this proposal: Users will be trained by highly qualified and experienced technical and scientific personnel on methodologies, experimental design and data analysis. Information about safety and security rules and procedures will be provided. The support would vary depending on the type of project and the actual degree of autonomy of the user. Users will be integrated in a research group and expected to collaborate in all the research process including report and article writing and publishing. The visiting scientist will receive a workplace including internet access, and receive support in finding accommodation. TNA visitors will have the possibility of conducting research experiments related to Aquaculture that may also include Aquatic Sciences, biotechnology, biomedicine, toxicology, genomics or molecular biology. During the stage, users will have online access to the full text journals and databases through internet, as CSIC is subscribed to the “Web of Science” and to most of the relevant scientific editorials. All this will mean scientists will have more opportunities to discuss the information available and to produce high quality scientific publications.

CSIC-IATS-ANA (Instituto de Acuicultura Torre de la Sal/Analytical Labs)

Infrastructure: CSIC-IATS-ANA (Instituto de Acuicultura Torre de la Sal/Analytical Labs)

Location: Ribera de Cabanes, Castellón, Spain.

Web site address: www.iats.csic.es

Contact: Josep Calduch-Giner (j.calduch@csic.es)

Facilities

IATS-ANA: includes associated services and 9 analytical laboratories located in IATS. They have all the scientific appliances and devices to conduct most of the techniques and analyses involved in research in aquaculture: microscopy, histology, histochemistry, ISH, immunoassays, gas and liquid chromatography, PCR and RT-PCR and other molecular techniques for gene expression analysis, epigenetic mapping, in vitro cell and eukaryotic culture, isotopic assays, micromanipulation, etc. These methodologies are applied in the fields of: genetic marker analysis of molluscs and fish, fish ehalth and welfare, fish nutrition and growth, marine larviculture, ecotoxicology, fish reproduction, fish neuroendocrinology and energetic metabolism, biotechnology, and environmental and organism monitoring. Large scientific equipment includes: liquid chromatographs (FPLC, HPLC), gas chromatographs (GC, GC-MS), spectrophotometers, fluorimeters, plate readers (absorbance, fluorescence, luminiscence), densitometer, gel and membrane image analysers, real-time PCRs, protein and nucleic acid electrophoresis (1D-2D) equipment, ultracentrifuges, freeze-dyer, ultrasonics, autoclaves and sterilization units, inverted microscopes with micromanipulation and microinjection units, swim metabolic chambers and – 80ºC freezers.

Modality of access

On average each user or user group is expected to stay 4 weeks at the infrastructure. The user will have to designate a contact person and define precisely which techniques are to be applied in the project. This access can be combined with access to IATS-EXP or to other experimental facilities offered by other partners of the project.

Users will receive access to all necessary equipment and consumables to complete their research project, as agreed in their project proposal. In addition, users will be trained by highly qualified and experienced technical and scientific personnel on methodologies, experimental design and data analysis. Users will be integrated in a research group and expected to collaborate in all the research process including report and article writing and publishing. The visiting scientist will receive a workplace including internet access, and receive support in finding living accommodation.

Users will have the opportunity to consult, have advice and interchange ideas with scientific staff with expertise on most of the disciplines in Aquaculture to, with notable excellence in marine fish nutrition and pathology, larviculture and nutritional enrichment of live preys, Artemia biology, fish immunology and biochemistry, and cellular and molecular biology to study and control fish reproduction, food intake and growth from early life stages to completion of production cycles. Thus, users will have the opportunity of learning how to run a project under the best experimental conditions and to apply this knowledge to their own infrastructures back to their countries. This support and scientific environment is currently provided to external users working in collaborative projects and international grants. IATS researchers have expertise in training and outreach to students.

Access to equipment and consumables will be as agreed in the project proposal. Access to transcriptomic and genomic databases also when agreed.

Unit of access

The unit of access is defined as weeks per person and it is defined as the number of weeks each person in a project is using a set of analytical laboratories for the analyses of samples. One typical access consists of 4 units of access (1 user and stay of 4 weeks). This includes the previous holding space of the samples to be analyzed (if necessary) and the scientific and technical support. It will not include the shipment of samples.