Automate Manipulation of Zebrafish Larvae for Large Imaging Screens

Union Biometrica develops tools for model organism research. The new VAST BioImager platform (Vertebrate Automated Screening Technology) is designed for zebrafish researchers who need to image large numbers of 2–7 day old sedated zebrafish larvae.

VAST automation avoids the time consuming and tedious steps of manual manipulation of each larva during screens.

VAST loads each larva into a capillary and then rotates it 360 degrees to determine the orientation of the fish using pattern recognition algorithms. The operator can then select any desired orientation: lateral, dorsal or any other custom orientation for image capture and all the remaining larvae will be rotated automatically to the same orientation.

Organ-level imaging is accomplished with the on-board bright-field camera. For cellular-level imaging VAST mounts on most upright high resolution fluorescent microscopes.


Union Biometrica Inc.,1-508-893-3115, www.unionbio.com