[DIYbio] Re: using transparent fish for genetic modifications

Hi all,

we have some plans about doing genetic modifications of animals in Kiev. As we have all necessary equipment but do not have experience we are going to start with transparent strain of zebra fish called "Casper" ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2292119/ ) as:

1) it is very good for learning (to make sure that your are targeting a right encoding gene and that modification really worked) you can first make genetic modifications to make it glow and see if it glows at all and where)

2) we have a project of learning how memory consolidations enzymes work in mind that must be done on living animals (as we want to investigate how learning of the fish correlates with translation of those enzymes), so cameras+computer_vision+transparent_organisms (we have AI experts in team who will do the CS part) looks like a nice solution (just in case if some of you have interest in this project, I put Dmitry Nowicki , the poject leader, in cc to this letter)

So, I wonder: 

1) does anybody of you work with transparent fish or have plans to work (in such case we can investigate dealing with "caspers" together)?

2) Do you know where can we buy it in Europe? I have seen only US websites like http://www.carolina.com/teacher-resources/Interactive/casper-fish-anatomy-studies/tr10794.tr that sell anatomy learning kits but not "fish breeding kits". There is also another problem:  we cannot order the fish via mail to Ukraine, as border control is so cruel and regulations are so stupid there that fish if mailed will likely die or be sent back. That means that we have to transfer it with people who will be traveling to other countries (for instance I am thinking about visiting Poland, Czech and Vienna next month, Dmitry also has some EU plans), so  collaboration with other labs that also want to work with it will be very helpful (we can order it on their address and take some fish by those of us who will happen to travel there).

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Best regards,
Anton Kulaga